


Dominance

by Irrelevantrelevancy



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Child Abuse, Dom/sub, Eating Disorders, I guess this is how I cope, M/M, Multi, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, this whole book has a general trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2020-07-29 21:55:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 53,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20089378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irrelevantrelevancy/pseuds/Irrelevantrelevancy
Summary: Everyone has a chance at redemption, no matter who they are, or where they're from.





	1. Chapter 1

The Isle was a dangerous place, a wasteland of has been villains trying to hold onto their prime and descendants of those villains trying their best to live day to day. Every villain has their niche and knack for chaos, it kept them young,youthful and in the limelight, every descendant knew their place. Oxymoronic as it may be they soon found peace within the chaos, or at least...some of them did. Most villains had resigned to the fact that their chapter was done, no one beyond the Isle would see them in their rotten glory, truly a tragedy. Except for maleficent. She always had one or two schemes up her tattered sleeve...and of course the evil queen, no she had plans for her daughter. Jafar was no exception to the plotting, he would not rest until he was seated on the throne of Agrabah. The only thing you could get them to agree on was Cruella’s mental state, why, she was insane. The son of Cruella was rarely seen in public, only either in school or at the shoreline when the barges came in. He was quiet, dazed and confused as he stumbled through the crowd of people. It left him an easy target. 

Everyone wanted power but most importantly they wanted respect. If you had respect on the isle, you lived, simple. He had no urge for power, as everyone on the ground brawled in a feat of dominance he hid in the trees and watched. He never understood the desperate need to have someone serve you, but the marketplace was a good place to research. What made certain villains destined to be the big shots and others sidekicks? Take Lefou and Gaston for example, there was a certain something in their relationship that distinguished the two from each other. It wasn’t that one was more evil than the other, it was dominance. Carlos scribbled furiously in his notebook as he observed the two, Gaston was a dominant personality type, but why? Carlos chewed on the edge of his pencil as he pondered, what made someone crave that kind of power?

“Jayden!”a voice shouted. Carlos quickly maneuvered himself in the branches so he was facing the sound. Once he had gotten a closer look he recognized it to be Jafar. A boy maybe older than him strolled out of the shop, a swagger in his step. Carlos licked his lips and leaned forward.

“Yes father?”He said, he hadn’t even bothered to look up.

“What is this?”Jafar asked holding something up. Carlos rubbed his eyes and squinted, what was he holding?

“Father I told you it’s nothing-”

“Condoms are nothing to you boy!?”Jafar hissed. Carlos winced at the silence that enveloped the marketplace, gosh people could be so nosey sometimes. “What did I tell you about the girls from the isle?”

Silence.

“Answer me!”

“You told me that I the son of the royal vizier Jafar will not stoop to the standard of isle girls…”He said.

“And?”He prompted stamping that blasted cane.

“Once we return to agrabah I will marry a princess”He said.

“Good”Jafar said curtly.

“Well?”Jay said holding his hand out.

“Well what? The conversation is done?”Jafar asked twirling the cane

“Give ‘em back”Jay said.

Jafar snarled and yanked the brunet roughly by the ear.

“Future princes do not use street slang”He chided. “And I will not give them back, your... _ fun _ with the isle girls needs to be put to a stop”

“Would you rather I knock one up? I don’t think being a father at my age is very princely”Jay spat.

Oh. This could get interesting. Carlos flipped his notebook back open and gave it a title, conflict in the dynamics.

“Jayden you will stop embarrassing me at once!”Jafar roared.

“Seeing as it’s the only fun I get to have anymore no!”Jay screamed back throwing his hands up. “You know what fucking keep them! I’ll get some more” with that he walked off.

“You petulant child! I’m just doing what’s best for you!”Jafar screamed after him. “Don’t bother coming home tonight either, I will not permit you inside-”

Oh, would he just shut up already? Carlos thought.

“What? Who said that!”Jafar said facing the very tree Carlos was perched in.

Not good. He scrambled to collect his things and didn’t even bother to climb down. He leaped out and hit the ground with a thud, fuck. Rolling onto his knees he clambered to his feet taking off. It was probable that Jafar wasn’t chasing him but he didn’t care, he needed to get out of there. He ran all the way back to hell hall clutching his notebook close to his chest, he had lost his pencil about half a mile back but fuck it. Once he entered the familiar yard he dropped to his knees and gulped a breath of air, his lungs were burning and his head was fuzzy. He eventually rolled onto his back and stared at the sky above them, he could see the faint shimmer of the barrier. When he was young he had always thought about it like a bubble, if he could get close enough to touch it maybe he could pop it and set himself free.

He took another deep breath and rolled over onto his knees pushing himself up. Cruella would be home later tonight, he still hasn’t started on hell hall. The list of chores she left was a mile long, hopefully she came back drunk so she wouldn’t notice it wasn’t completed. He dragged himself inside of the house and slammed the door shut behind him, time to blow off some steam. He padded into the kitchen and dug under the sink for the cleaning spray, they would be running low soon. He grinned, a perfect excuse to go back to the marketplace sometime this week. He grabbed the checkered rag off the sink and started doing the math. Cruella loved alcohol, a fact Carlos had known since he could speak. She usually showed up drunk a least four days out of the week, at least. The week has just started so there was a one in four chance that she would come home drunk off her ass. So there was a three in four chance that Carlos would be facing a beating later and a less than 1% chance that she would let it slide. He groaned letting the rag fall onto the counter top with a plop.

What really made up a dominant? His mind wandered as he wiped down the counter tops. He had come to his own conclusion months before that it was neither a good nor bad trait, it just was. He had split the people of the isle up into the three different categories, the dominant ones, the submissive ones and the neutral ones. One thing he had concluded about submissive personality types was that they did it willingly, like Lefou. He had learned the difference between a suppressed dominant and and a willing submissive, dominants were like leaders...they were leaders! that’s it! Carlos’ hands itched for his notebook to jot that down but he had already wasted enough time snooping the marketplace. He saved the epiphany to his backlog of thoughts and kicked off his shoes dropping to his knees. Cruella decided to take her last psychotic break out on the mop so now he had to scrub the floor by hand. He wasn’t quite sure where he fell in his categories, he was by no means a dominant, he shared similar traits to the submissives but always considered himself a neutral. Maybe it’s more of a spectrum?he thought carefully. A spectrum would make perfect sense but he didn’t have enough evidence to come to a conclusion. He hummed softly to himself and considered the floor clean, he could always come back to it but he had more pressing matters that needed attending to.

* * *

“I-I just don’t get it Mal!”Jay said pacing. “He said he would stop treating me like this when I got older, I'm clearly older!”  
“And you believed him?”She said picking at her nails. “Rookie mistake”

“I’m sorry I believe my father, who raised me!”He shouted.

“Are you sure he raised you?”Mal asked offhandedly. 

Jay stopped his pacing.

“What is that supposed to mean?”Jay demanded.

“Oh nothing”She said. “It’s just that after your mother's death you seemed to be raising yourself”

His face reddened.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about”He said. “And don’t fucking talk about my mother”

“Why?”Mal drawled staring up at him. “You just wanna forget she ever existed?”

“No”Jay huffed. “I don’t want your bitchy mouth tainting her memory”  
“Oh nice one”Mal smirked.

Jay glared and plopped next to her crossing his legs.

“Easy there tiger, you might burn a hole through the brick if you continue staring that hard”She said.

“Leave me alone”Jay groaned.

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re being real pathetic ya know. I hope you didn’t call me here just to be sorry for yourself”

“Fuck off”He snapped

“Trust me, I already would have if you weren’t such a good thief. I mean you charmed those pearls right off of Ursula when we were kids”She chuckled.

He smiled. “Yeah, I remember. The minute she realized they were gone she was so mad, but when I brought them home to my dad, I remember he actually smiled at me”He sighed happily. “He told me put ‘em up in the shop and he let me play with his scepter...told me it would be mine one day when we get back to Agrabah…”

“Oh enough about your dad and Agrabah!”Mal snapped jumping to her feet. “I know what you need”

“Some sleep?”Jay asked.

“No dumbass, some liquor!”She sang and pulled him to his feet.

“You know I do really stupid shit when i’m drunk”He protested.

“Yeah but you need something to laugh about and I need someone to laugh at”She said. “Besides it’ll numb the pain, I hate seeing you look so weak”

“Fine”Jay smiled. “Let’s drink”

* * *

“Boy!”Cruella shouted throwing her purse to the floor. “Your mummy is finally home and you dare not be there to greet her?”

Fuck. Definitely not drunk.

Carlos slowly emerged from the kitchen, hands behind his back, eyes trained on the floor.

“Speak”Cruella said.

“Hello Moth-”

“Ah ah, wait”She said. “You know how I like you”

He let out a breath and slowly sank to his knees. His eyes followed the dalmation fur coat that swayed across the ground.

“Speak now boy”She said.

“Hello Mother, it’s wonderful to have you home”He said. 

“Hm”She said eyeing him. “You’re getting fat, you need to watch your weight dear. Get up”

He slowly clambered to his feet and kept his eyes trained on the ground.

“Look at me,”She said.

He lifted his eyes to her face, the first thing he spotted was the cigarette dangling out of the corner of her mouth. It was lit.

“Arm”she said. She looked bored.

He slowly lifted up his sleeve and held out his bare forearm. She barely spared his trembling body a glance before stubbing the cigarette out on his pale skin. His instinct was to look away but she quickly grabbed his face and held it between her fingers.

“Do not look away, I want to see the pain in your eyes”She said. He nodded quickly and winced under her sharp nails that dug into his cheeks. “Pathetic chubby cheeks, I thought that baby fat would’ve been gone years ago”

He stared up at her unfaltering.

“Oh well you know the saying don’t you boy? Skip dinner wake up thinner?”She cackled.

His eyes welled up with unshed tears, her words stopped hurting him years ago but he sadly hasn’t become immune to flame. He could not cry, that would only make things worse. He risked looking away for a few seconds to blink away the tears, that action in itself made things unfathomably worse. The squeezing only got tighter, he was thankful for his chubby cheeks, without all that fat she would have punctured a hole through them.

“Insolent brat!”She spat. “Start on dinner and don’t think you’ll be having any, I can’t have you out in public with me the size of a whale”

She finally pushed his head away, he whimpered. She must have been feeling merciful because she didn’t comment.

“Now what do we say boy?”She asked.

“I love you mother”He said quietly.

“Mhm, and what else?”She prompted

“Thank you for providing for me, I am forever in your debt”He finished.

“mmph!”She grunted. “It just has such a nice ring to it, doesn't it?”

He stared at the ground.

“Oh don’t look so sad”She said patting his cheek. “I’m doing this with your best interest in mind, I can’t have my son being so horribly overweight now can I?”

“No ma’am”He answered.

“That’s what I like to hear, I expect dinner to be done in an hour or...else!”She shouted. He felt his eyes widen and heart race, she simply cackled and ascended the stairs. Once he was sure she was gone, his heart found its way back to his chest.

“Fuck”He whispered. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!”   
He was in deep shit, if he couldn’t eat tonight what would happen when-

“Boy!”She shouted

-she found out he didn’t even start upstairs. 

Before he knew it he was bolting out the back door, his feet burned as they hit the gravelly ground.

“Fuck!”He shouted. He had definitely stepped on something sharp. He looped around his tree house hobbling towards the woods, if this is how he died might as well be with the trees. The faint sound of Cruella rang in the distance, the more he heard her voice the faster he ran. He was sprinting at this point and burning energy quickly, he would need to stop eventually. He ran until he collapsed, his knees buckled underneath him and he fell face first into the dirt, he cheek scraped on a sharp stone and he hit his head with a thud. Well, he thought, this is the end. He never would have imagined Cruella killing him like this, he had always pictured her delusions getting the best of her and skinning him like the dalmations she wore on her coat. But this, this was all his fault. He knew he had to clean hell hall but he spent his time frolicking in the marketplace, it was all his fault. He heard distant footsteps and groaned placing his cheek against the cool dirt, this was the end.

“Come and get me Cruella”he slurred. “I’m not afraid”

It was a complete lie but he wouldn’t let her win.

“Oh my gosh”That wasn’t Cruella.

Before Carlos could get the words out his eyes were rolling back and his body was shutting down.

The trees swirled from his vision and the world went black around him.

Finally.

Peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this and comments are appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

Carlos woke with a start and pushed himself up despite the pain in his joints. Seeing as he could actually push himself up there was no way he’d been stuffed in the cupboard again. There was also no way he was in hell hall, the walls surrounding him were royal blue. He furrowed his brows and tried to make sense of how he ended up...well wherever he was. Trying to move proved to be rather difficult, his body felt heavy and his face was hot. Dawn must’ve broke because light began spilling into the small room. He squinted his eyes and doubled over at the nausea that followed, fuck. Wherever he was he wasn’t being attacked, it wouldn’t kill him to lay back down.

* * *

“Do you think he’s breathing?”

“He was when I brought him here”

A tiny groan slipped past his lips and he froze.

“Oh he’s definitely breathing”

“Yeah no shit, should we wake him up?”

No.

“I really don’t want to but we should see if he’s conscious”

That voice, it was familiar. Before he knew it the blanket was being ripped off of him along with a breathless scream, fuck. Why did she have to do it like that? He blinked his eyes open and nausea settled in his stomach slowly creeping its way up his throat. He swallowed roughly as felt his heart beat against his chest.

“Does he look a little pale to you?”

Why was her voice getting louder? The nausea continued creeping up his throat until he found it hard to breath, he was sweating. He could feel eyes on him but he couldn’t make out the words, he gagged.

“Oh fuck Evie get the trash can!”

It was too late. Carlos was doubled over the side of the bed emptying the contents of his stomach onto the floor. He panted and felt the sweat dripping into his eyes, or maybe he was crying? Bile burned the back of his throat on every inhale, the girls watched motionlessly. Once he was done he flopped back down on the bed and slapped a hand over his eyes, the light was killing him.

“I’ll close the curtains”Mal said.

Carlos grunted in response and tried to steady his breathing, he was freezing. The blinds were shut and he let out a sigh of relief.

“He just threw up...on my floor”Evie said slowly.

“That’s what happens when you play doctor with strange boys from the forest”Mal said with a shrug.

“Because he passed out!-”Evie exclaimed.

Carlos groaned and tucked his knees up to his chest.

“Because he passed out right in front of me and hit his head!”Evie whispered. “I couldn’t just leave him there to die”

“It’s what I would’ve done”Mal said perching herself on a stool.

“Yeah I know...Just watch him while I get something to clean that up”Evie said and left the room. Once she was gone Mal heaved herself off the stole and walked over to the shivering boy, he looked pathetic. She placed the back of her hand on his forehead, he flinched. She sighed, he was burning hot.

“Of course”She grumbled. “You just waltz in here with those deer in the headlight eyes and now you’re sick”

She grabbed the blanket and slung it back over his small frame. Before she could turn around he was kicking it off of him. 

She huffed and threw it back on him. “Leave it”

“Cold”He mumbled.

“I don’t care”She said. “Leave it on, the sooner your fever breaks the sooner you get better and the sooner you get better means you get to go back to being Cruella’s chew toy”

He didn’t respond, he had probably passed out again. Evie returned with a mop and a multitude of cleaning supplies.

“What?”She responded to Mal’s raised eyebrow. “Mother likes a clean home”

“The dalmations got a fever”Mal said pointing to him.

“Just great”Evie sighed. “I was hoping it was just a concussion, he’ll need ibuprofen and tea and wat-”

“Evie!”Mal snapped, she ignored Carlos’ groan. “What the hell? First of all you’re not running a hospital and second of all you don’t owe him anything! He’s never not once done a thing for you, you dragged him from the forest!”

“I owe him my humanity”Evie said quietly.

“I don’t know what romance novels you’ve been reading but you’ve gone insane, what is humanity E, huh? Being kind to those in need? Giving to the poor? Being generous and expecting nothing in return?”Mal asked.

Evie nodded.

“Well you’re wrong. It’s a recipe for getting taken advantage of,stabbed in the back and losing whatever credibility you got from hanging with me”Mal said.

“Everyone on the isle isn’t cruel”Evie said.

“Everyone-everyone on the isle isn’t cruel!?”Mal howled. “It’s the entire reason we’re here, it’s because we’re evil and we didn’t fit in with the goody two shoes”

“I’m!-”Evie started but cut herself off.

“No go ahead say it”Mal said taking a step forward. “I dare you”  
“I’m not evil”Evie said looking her dead in her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt people, I just want to find a prince-”

“Make your mother happy and get your fairytale ending. Newsflash  _ princess,  _ no one on the isle gets what they want”Mal said.

“You’re wrong”Evie whispered. “I choose for myself”

“Really?”Mal said. “You choose for yourself? Then tell me why your mothers still got you by the scruff telling you exactly how to live your life? Oh you can’t, can you?”Mal smirked.

“Burn”Evie said.

Mal rolled her eyes. “Oh quit being so sensitive, I’ll be back later.”   
Evie simply nodded and watched Mal slide the window open hopping out.

“Damn it”She sighed. “I still need to clean up his puke”

Carlos lay stunned at the exchange between the two, how the other girl had tried to force Evie to stand down but she...didn’t. Thinking gave him a headache but he desperately tried to store it in his memory, a neutral against a dominant, a concept he hadn’t even thought to think of. A cool hand touched his forehead and eased his busy mind.

“You’ll be okay”She said gently. “Unlike some people I won’t leave you to die”

He almost smiled but caught himself, she still thinks that he’s asleep. The hand now felt underneath his chin, it took everything in him not to flinch.

“I really need to get you some ibuprofen your fever is only going to get worse”

With that she left the room.

This girl is kind, he thought. The isle is going to eat her alive.

* * *

Days passed and soon Carlos could open his eyes and even sit up without the overwhelming urge to throw up. His one problem now was keeping food down, turns out the cause of his ailment was two things. The concussion he had-which Evie thought was minor-and an infection from one of the cuts that had gone unnoticed when he was bandaged the day of the injury. Speaking, speaking was also a challenge, his speech was slurred and he couldn’t focus on more than a few words at a time. He barely let it show but this terrified him, the only thing he had going for him was his intelligence, what if he lost that? Then what would he be besides Cruella’s servant?

This girl was astounding to him, she had a big medical book that came from Auradon. Carlos wanted to question about how she got her hands on it but decided against it, what if she wasn’t as sweet as she really led on? Asking questions could potentially be dangerous. She was also quit the chemist, she had made her own ibuprofen from scratch and scribbled down the formula in a thick notebook, what Carlos would give to get his hands on that notebook. She was so much more than meets the eye, why was that girl still so cruel to her? He understood it was the isle,he understood that it’s survival but even in the privacy of Evie’s room she was nasty. Evie was useful, the other girl could not afford to lose her, how could she still act that way and risk jeopardizing this alliance.

His thoughts were put to a stop as Evie pushed the door open.

“It’s time to eat, sit up”She said.

Carlos pulled himself up and sat cross legged, she handed him a bowl of broth. He nodded in thanks and she nodded back.

“You’re looking a lot better”She said. 

He nodded again and shakily held the bowl up to his lips taking a sip, it actually tasted good.

“Whenever you’re able to speak again I expect you to tell me about yourself mister”She said putting her hands on her hips. “I don’t even know your name and you’re sleeping in my bed”

He cracked a smile and handed back the half finished bowl of soup.

“Ah ah ah”She said wagging a finger. “You’re not going to get better if you’re eating like a bird”

_ But I can’t eat anymore _ , he thought.  _ My stomach is small. _

“Just try a little bit more”She said handing it back.

He groaned and took one more sip before handing it back, he would throw up if he had anymore. She nodded in understanding and stood to move towards the door.

“Evie”He croaked.

She whipped her head around, and her jaw went slack. He sounded older than he looked, how old was this kid?

“yes?”She asked.

“Carlos”He croaked pointing to himself.

She smiled. “Carlos”

It suited him.

* * *

Evie walked into her room and marveled at the sight before her. Carlos was hunched over her little desk with a pencil in hand, jotting down what appeared to be equations. She took a step forward and peered over his shoulder, she smiled. 

“I’m no doctor but I don’t think you should be thinking so hard with a concussion”She said. Carlos flinched and spun around quickly grabbing at the papers, his cheeks were tinted pink.

“Sorry”He mumbled.

Evie sighed, “Carlos, i’m not Cruella, you didn’t do anything wrong”

“Well of course you’re not Cruella”He said with a duh expression. “You’re Evie”

“Are you ever going to tell me about her?”She asked.

“I didn’t really plan on it so...no!”He said and turned back towards the desk.

“Carlos tell me”She pleaded. “I’m not going to throw this back in your face but I did say when your speech cleared up that you owed me this.”

“Cruella is evil”He stated.

Sick,deranged,sadistic. His mind came up with better synonyms but he left it at that.

“Really?”Evie asked. “That’s all you’re going to give me?”  
“Do you like talking about what your mother has done to you?”He asked whirling around. “Do you like being reminded about the things she’s done? I wouldn’t think so. I’ve spent so much of my life trying to forget the past, don’t make me bring it up”

“But you owe me”Evie insisted.

“If this is what I owe you i’ll leave”He said. On the inside he was shaking, Evie has been the only one to ever show him kindness. “I can do anything else but this”

“Fine”Evie sighed. “We’ll drop it, obviously whatever she did fucked you up”

“We’re all fucked up”Carlos insisted. “Cruella wasn’t so bad, I just don’t like talking about her”

“Carlos-”

“I’m fine”He said. “Seriously, now how about you help me with this equation?”

It was simple algebra he’d taught himself years ago but he needed to change the topic.

“Yeah”she said eyeing the paper. “I’ll help you”

* * *

  
“Carlos!”

“Hmm!”The boy groaned pulling the pillow over his eyes.

“There’s no time for hmm, we’ve gotta go!”She said pulling the pillow from his grip.

“Why? Is still dark out”He said pointing to the window, his speech was slurred from sleep and his hair stuck up at odd angles.

“Cruella is looking for you!”She hissed throwing the little clothes she had in a backpack. “I don’t know what she did to you, and you don’t have to tell me but everyone knows she’s insane!”

Huh. So it was common knowledge.

“Fuck!”Carlos hissed rolling out of bed. “What are we going to do?!”

“I’ve got it all planned, don’t worry”Evie said.

“I’m comin, lead the way”He said.

Evie led him to the fire escape and helped him down, cool grass tickled his feet. He hadn’t been outside in at least a week.

“Stay low and don’t make any noise”She warned.

He nodded and crouched down following her. Evie led him away from the forest and he froze.

“Why…”He stumbled over his words. “Why this way?”

His head was starting to hurt.   
Evie narrowed her eyes at him but continued tugging him along.

“Don’t ask me questions”She said.

He nodded and looked over his shoulder towards the forest, it was safe, practically his home. They made their way into town as nightfall covered them, Carlos was growing weak. 

“Oh no, come on Carlos!”Evie whispered harshly.

He felt disappointment wash over him in waves, he was letting her down. He pushed himself harder and stumbled along side her. They passed the marketplace and winced, it was still bustling.

“Fuck”Evie whispered.

“Wha?”Carlos mumbled. He could barely keep his eyes open. Evie saw a torch and the outline of a man, she pulled the two behind an abandoned cart. She led him behind a building and pulled a ladder from the side of the house.

“God I hope he’s home”she whispered.

The window was cracked. She climbed up the ladder and propped open the window climbing inside.

“Come on Carlos I know you can do it!”She said. “Make me proud”

“Proud”he mumbled.

He gripped the ladder tightly and one foot after the other pushed himself up.

“That’s it Carlos”She whispered.

Once he had made it to where she could reach him she grabbed his arms and prayed she didn’t dislocate his shoulders as she pulled him in. He hit the floor with a thud and groaned, Evie pulled his head into her lap and wrapped her arms around it.

“My god Carlos I thought you were a goner”She exhaled.

He panted and wheezed as he took deep breaths.

“You’re still sick”She frowned. “Oh Carlos once I get you to where we’re going, I'll make sure you get to rest-”

The door opened with a crack. Jay stood in the doorway dripping wet, a towel wrapped around his waist. He narrowed his eyes at Evie and then at the smaller boy in her lap, he was fast asleep curled in on himself.

Pathetic.

“What the hell is going on here?”


	3. Chapter 3

Jay couldn’t help but stare, there was something peculiar about this boy. He was small, smaller than average. He looked young too, like he hadn’t even hit his first growth spurt. He eyed Evie warily and ran a hand over his face. 

“So you’re telling me you found him in the forest?”He asked. “And you decided to keep him?”  
“Well now you’re making him sound like a stray”She said.

Jay took a seat on the ground opposite of the two in a plain t-shirt and boxers, nothing Evie hasn’t seen before.

“Well what exactly what do you know about him?”Jay asked.

“His name is Carlos,he’s Cruella’s son and he likes algebra”Evie stated.

“Great that just gives us so much to work with”Jay said with a roll of the eyes. “Any useful information E?”

“Well he’s terrified of Cruella, that’s kind of why we’re here,”She said. “The wicked bitch is looking for him and I wanted to get him somewhere safe where she wouldn’t find him”

“It’s normal for parents to go looking for their kids when they’ve been gone for a week, even on the isle”Jay said. “Has he told you anything that Cruella’s done?”

“No…”Evie sighed. “I’ve just got a bad feeling about her, alright?”

“Evie even I know this is wrong, give the kid back to his mom,”Jay said.

Evie took a look at Carlos sleeping peacefully in her lap.

“But what if she hurts him?”She said.

“All of our parents hurt us, it’s no different for him,”Jay said.

“But Jay you’ve gotta listen to me, it’s different. I can’t explain why but when I mention her he just gets this look in his eyes-”   
There was a knock on the door. Jay, he held a finger to his lips and motioned Evie towards the window. ‘No’ she mouthed and pointed towards the sleeping boy in her lap. ‘What do you want me to do about that,go!’ Jay mouthed in return and flicked his wrist towards the window. Evie shook her head again, god she was stubborn. The knocking continued and Jay groaned running a hand through his damp hair.

“Jayden I do not appreciate being kept waiting”A voice rang.

“Coming father”Jay said pushing himself off of the floor. Evie gave him a look as he walked towards the door.

“No”Evie whispered. “Don’t”

“I’m sorry”Jay whispered before opening the door. Jafar huffed and smacked the door open, it left a dent in the wall.

“Foolish boy, I should-”Jafar hissed raising a hand, Jay flinched. His beady eyes travelled to Evie and Carlos, he lowered it. “Oh, we’ve got company”

Jay’s bottom lip trembled as he took a deep breath. Evie’s eyes trailed towards his face and she felt beads of shock trickle down her spine, he was afraid.

“Oh I am sorry you had to see this”Jafar said. “We’re not used to company around here, my incompetent son didn’t pass on the message”He shot Jay a glare.

“It’s no problem”Evie said quietly.

“Oh but it is indeed”Jafar said. “Let me fix you some te-wait a minute. Who is the boy, he looks familiar”

No, Jay thought.

“No no no, I know this boy”Jafar said. “Ah! This is Cruella’s servant, I see him at the barge sometimes”

“Servant?”Jay whispered.

“Don’t speak i’m angry enough with you”Jafar said with narrowed eyes. “How did he get here? Speak, girl”

Jay spared a second glance at the boy and felt his stomach sink, maybe Evie was right?

“Jay found him on the side of the road, he was a little ways passed the marketplace”Evie said. She could lie right through her teeth, Jay was impressed.

“I wouldn’t mind taking him off of your hands”Jafar said slyly. “There’s a bounty out on him, a dainty girl such as yourself shouldn’t be in this fight”

“The boy stays with me!”Jay said quickly. “I found him so he’s mine, Eve is an ally of mine so I'll split it with her”

“Jayden”Jafar chuckled. “Don’t get involved in father’s trade”

Carlos was awake. He jolted in Evie’s arms scrambling onto his butt, his vision was blurry. He looked up at Jafar and immediately felt the wrath of his beady eyes.

“He stays with me”Jay growled. “Father shouldn’t you be proud of me? I found the prize!”   
Evie scooted back dragging Carlos with her.

“Jayden stand down”Jafar said cooly. “You wouldn’t want to get embarrassed in front of your company”

“No!”Jay shouted taking a step forward. “I will not stand down father, i’m tired of standing-”

_Smack_. 

Evie gasped and held Carlos tighter. Jay slowly lifted a hand up to his cheek while the other clenched in a fist.

“You mind running that by me again?”Jafar asked.

“I will not stand down.”Jay repeated. “You can beat me until I'm black and blue but that won’t change a thing. He stays with me”

“Don’t!”Carlos spoke quickly. Both Jay and Jafar whipped their heads around to face him. “Take me back to Cruella”  
“Are you crazy?”Evie hissed.

Carlos stood and faced the older boy, he squared his shoulders. “Take me back”

“Can’t you see im trying to save you?”Jay asked. “Let me handle this”

“No!”Carlos exclaimed. The room fell silent. “I’m tired of people trying to handle things for me, take me back to Cruella or i’ll go myself”

“We’ll take you”Jafar said quickly. “We can’t let the bounty go on his own, they’ll eat him alive”

“Fine”Jay said. “But whatever I get out of this you get nothing, and I go alone”

“Foolish boy!”Jafar hissed. “What’s yours is mine, you own nothing!”

“He is mine”Jay said dangerously low. “If you take one step closer Jafar I will kill you”

“Jay-”Evie gasped.

“No”Jay said raising a hand. “Save the commentary, I mean what I say”

“Fine”Jafar said raising his hands. “Don’t come back”

“Trust me, I won't”He said. “Carlos let’s go”

* * *

“Why would you do that!?”Carlos hissed as he was dragged down the main road. “You just got kicked out!”

“Believe me I've been wanting to do that for years, you just gave me the perfect excuse”Jay chuckled.

“Can you loosen your grip?”Carlos grumbled pulling at his wrist.

“No one will believe I captured you if you’re walking willingly”Jay said.

“Alright man the whole ‘I belong to you thing’ was alright when we were in front of your father but can you quit it? If I belong to anyone it’s Evie”Carlos said. “I mean she’s technically the one who found me-”  
“You talk, so much”Jay said. “If Evie was the one dragging you back to hell hall she would’ve gotten eaten alive, I'm much more of a convincing captor”Jay said.

“Mhm keep telling yourself that,”Carlos said.

“For someone who was just saved you’re talking a lot of shit”Jay said in a warning tone.

Carlos smirked. “Like I'm so scared of you” he wanted to know what made Jay tick, this would be great evidence.

Before he knew it he was being dragged down a side street and pushed against a wall. He hit his head with a thump and groaned.

“Listen kid”Jay said lowly. “I’m doing you a fucking favor right now. I may be powerless under Jafar’s roof but you don’t want to know what I do to smart mouthed people like you”  
“I’m so scared”Carlos said with a roll of the eyes. He easily slid out of Jay’s hold and appeared behind him thumping the back of his skull. “You don’t scare me Jay”

“How’d you…?”Jay said looking at the space between his arms.

“I’m small and flexible, you put two and two together”Carlos said. “Now that you’re done with your temper tantrum can we keep going?”

“You’re really pushing your luck kid”Jay said.

“Quit calling me kid too”Carlos said.

“Well if you’re not a kid then how old are you?”Jay asked.

“Get this”Carlos said moving closer. “It’s insane really-”  
“Just tell me”Jay said impatiently.

“Okay okay since you asked,”Carlos said. “None of your damn business”   
Jay narrowed his eyes. “You little shit”

Before he could even grab him Carlos was darting down the street.

“I’m gonna kill him”Jay whispered in disbelief.

He was right on his tail but Carlos kept zig zagging, this wasn’t making sense. How did this frail little boy suddenly become the world's greatest sprinter? Jay huffed and ducked his head down picking up the speed. Carlos looked over his shoulder and laughed, he hadn’t had this much fun in years. He came to an abrupt stop letting Jay catch up. When the brunet was finally in speaking distance Carlos could see the way his chest rose and fell, he was growing tired.

“Nothing like a good game of cat and mouse am I right?”Carlos said.

“I’m going to knock you out if you keep this shit up”Jay wheezed.

“Aw, I'm sorry to hear you say that”Carlos said with a pout. “Cause I think it’s time for round two!”

Jays eyes widened. “Carlos-”

The boy was already off again, Jay was pissed. He was put in charge of this little shit and now, he was taunting him? He’d need to have a serious talk with Evie about her choice in patients. Carlos may not have been evil but he definitely wasn’t as sweet as he led on. Jay watched in horror as the boy ran circles around random people causing them to grow dizzy, he was like the tasmanian devil.

“Carlos!”He shouted.

“Sorry can’t hear you!”Carlos shouted over his shoulder.

God this boy was childish. But Jay could not deny he was fast, and he had stamina. Carlos had been running at a sustained sprint for over ten minutes, or maybe he wasn’t sprinting? Maybe he was just that fast. He was agile too, dodging carts and carriages not once slowing down. Jay couldn’t help the sinking in his stomach at the prospect of what made him so good at dodging things. Carlos refused to slow down until he reached a clearing, Jay had showed up about eight minutes later and out of breath.

“Carlos you’re fucking insane”He panted. “You just ran over two miles”

“Two miles is nothing”Carlos brushed off. “Besides, I hadn’t got to run like that in...in years”

“And what made you do it today?”Jay asked.

“Because I'm your captive”Carlos shrugged. “I knew if I ran into trouble you wouldn’t let anyone hurt me”

Jay couldn’t help the uncomfortable flush in his cheeks. “Yeah don’t be too sure about that”

The two walked through the clearing in silence.

“I hope you know there’s no prize”Carlos said. “Cruella’s many things, including a liar”

“yeah”Jay said. “I know”

“Then why did you do it?”Carlos stopped to face him. “If you knew there was no prize why get kicked out of your home? Why upset your father like that?”  
“Because I know what Jafar is capable of”Jay said. “I know what he would do to you, couldn’t let it happen”

“Jay I’m a big boy, I don’t need anyone catering to me-”  
“You really believe that?”Jay said. “You’re small and weak, you’d die out here without me”  
Carlos felt his cheeks burn.

“I can run circles around you”He said.

“Yeah, so what? That doesn’t mean anything,”Jay said “Tell me Carlos what happens if they catch you? Huh?”

The smaller boy huffed keeping his eyes trained on the ground.

“Look at me”Jay said-no demanded.

Carlos’ eyes snapped up and he bit down on his bottom lip.

“Fuck you”He said.

“Exactly”Jay said smugly. “You know what would happen”

* * *

The silence that followed continued all the way towards hell hall. The trees curved in on themselves, the sun didn’t shine on this part of the isle. It filled Jay with dread to watch Carlos walk through here so familiarly, no one should have to walk through here. The little bit of grass that grew was dead, the carcasses of birds were scattered among the dirt. No wonder this place was called hell hall. Carlos led Jay to the front door and crossed his wrists behind his back.

“Grab them”Carlos said.

“what?”Jay asked.

Carlos rolled his eyes. “Grab my wrists so it looks like you dragged me here, get with the program”

Jay nodded and wrapped a hand around both of the wrists, they fit almost perfectly in his grasp. Carlos let out a sigh and hung his head low.

“Are you afraid?”Jay asked.

A few beats passed. “No”

“You’re a liar,”Jay said.

“I-what?”Carlos breathed.

“You’re a liar”He restated. “You hesitated and I can see it in your eyes.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,”Carlos said.

Jay rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah? I’ve known you for what, four hours? You’re practically an open book”

“Shut up”Carlos said, his cheeks were burning.

“Others may not know how to read you but I bet I’ve already got your body language all figured out”he said.

“What are you trying to prove?”Carlos snapped.

“Absolutely nothing”He smirked. “It’s just fun to make people uncomfortable”He leaned in closer “Is that what i’m doing Carlos, am I making you uncomfortable?”   
A whine tried to creep up his throat but he pushed it down. This was not the time for that.

“I’ll take that as a yes”He said, a smile tugged on his lips.

“Aren’t you going to hand me over to Cruella?”Carlos grumbled.

“Give me a minute, can't you see I'm having fun?”Jay said, there was a playful whine in his voice.

“I’ll just walk inside”Carlos said.

“I’ve got your hands”Jay said. “You can’t go anywhere until I say so”

“I’ll scream”Carlos said.

“This is Cruella we’re talking about,”he said. “Do you really want to do that?”

Carlos bit his lip and slowly shook his head.

“Good”Jay said and this time he did smile, it was wicked. “Where’s your smart comments now? Cats got your tongue?”

Carlos simply kept his mouth shut and Jay’s smile widened, he let go of Carlos’ wrists.

“Wha?-”Carlos questioned.

“I was only fucking with you”He waved off. “You tested me earlier, so I tested you. Think of it as an eye for an eye”   
There was a dangerous glint in his eyes that made Carlos shiver.

“Once this whole thing blows over I want you to come find me. A few miles passed the shop you’ll reach a river, follow the length of the river north until you see an abandoned building,”Jay said.

“Why would you want to keep in touch?”Carlos asked. “I thought I was a smart ass?”

“You are but it’s good, being so small you need some sort of edge. Besides you’re the fastest person I've ever seen on this damn island, you could be useful to my group”He said.

“What if I say no?”Carlos asked.

“Then I make your life hell”Jay shrugged. “You may not see me there often but I do go to school and you just so happen to be locker sized-”

“I’ll do it!”Carlos said quickly.

“Glad we’re on the same page”He said, with the sealed he rapped his knuckles on the door sharply. 

“I’m coming!”A woman shouted.

Carlos quickly dropped to his knees keeping his head down, Jay couldn’t help but stare. What was he doing?

The door was flung open“What is it-oh”She said. “What a pleasant surprise! Sorry I wasn’t expecting a visitor, I would’ve worn my good fur”

“Here’s the boy”Jay said releasing his wrists. “I’ll be on my way now-”

“Oh no no I couldn’t possibly throw you out so soon, come inside let me get you a drink,”she said. “Boy, on your feet”

Carlos wordlessly clambered to his feet ignoring Jays gaze. When he went to walk inside Cruella grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

“What do we say boy?”She whispered.

“Thank you for allowing me inside of the house mother”He recited.

“What follows that?”she prompted. “Come on don’t act daft in front of my company”

“I love you mother”He said through gritted teeth.

“Good”She purred. “You won’t be loving me so much when I straighten out your backside”

“Fun”he mumbled. Cruella’s eyes took on a dangerous glint and she tightened the grip on his neck, nails dangerously close to his throat.

“Did you just talk back, boy?”She asked.

“No mother!”He said quickly. “I would never”

She narrowed her eyes at him continuing to tighten her grip, Jay let out a tiny cough.

“Oh my, how could I forget!”she said letting go. “Sorry you had to see that, sometimes he can get a bit out of hand”

Jay looked to him but he refused to catch his gaze, he had only been here a few minutes but he was itching to strangle her. They all walked inside, Carlos gently rubbing at his neck.

“Take a seat at the table, I'll be just a moment”She said walking up the stairs. Jay took a seat and Carlos quickly walked past him on the way to the sink, the dishes were overflowing. Jay grabbed Carlos by the back of his shirt and pulled him back.

“Carlos what the hell was that?”Jay hissed quietly.

“Nothing”He said.

“Carlos that wasn’t nothing”Jay argued. “She makes you kneel?”

“It’s no big deal”Carlos shrugged. “I’ve been doing it for years”

“I don’t think you understand the meaning of ‘no big deal’”He said harshly.

“I don’t think you understand that this is my life”Carlos retorted. “It’s just the way things are around here. I’m lucky I caught her in a good mood”

“A _good_ _mood_?”Jay hissed. “Oh no you can’t just expect me to leave you here when she’s out of her fucking mind”  
“It would be better if you left”Carlos said curtly.

“What?”Jay breathed. “I’m trying to save you and-”

“Then stop”He said firmly. “There’s no stopping Cruella so leave. I just want to get the beating over with”

“Carlos-”

“Jay”He said firmly. “Go, before it’s too late”

“Just a minute!”Cruella called from upstairs. “The pesky buttons on this shift are tricky-boy! Boy help me!”

Carlos sighed and ran a hand over his face.

“Carlos-”Jay pleaded.

“Go!”He hissed. Without sparing the brunette a second glance he walked up the staircase.

With one last glance Jay was running out the door, he didn’t stop until his lungs felt weak and hell hall was far in the distance. He slumped against a tree and his head fell into his hands, he felt the guilt pooling in his stomach. He’s always been known to have poor judgement but this is the stupidest thing he’s done yet.

* * *

It had been months since anyone on the isle had seen Carlos, all traces of him disappeared. His spotty school attendance was now completely cleared, he’d have to redo this grade. He was no longer seen at the barge or the marketplace, Evie stayed in the forest hours at a time hoping he would come running again. It was taking a toll on Jay, he knew Cruella was evil but now he was getting worried. There was no way she would kill her own son, right? Villains didn’t show their kids love but murder, it wasn’t unheard of but it sure wasn’t common. Had Cruella really murdered him? The little spat with Jafar was quickly resolved and there Jay was right back where he started, polishing stolen goods in the shop. 

The bell on the door chimed and he cleared his throat looking towards it. The first thing he noticed was flowing purple hair, what was Mal doing here?

“Come”She said beckoning him.

“I’m working a shift”He stated.

She turned to the door and flipped the open side around.

“You’re not anymore”She said. He sighed and took one look around, Jafar was nowhere in sight.

“Fine”He said.

“Good, I wasn’t really giving you a choice”She said walking out the door. Jay followed and recognized the familiar path.

“Why are we going to the hideout?”He asked.

“Oh you’ll see”Mal said through gritted teeth.

The pair walked in silence for another thirty minutes before reaching an abandoned building. Mal made no sound as she climbed the ladder, it now clicked in Jay’s head. She was angry, but for what? He sighed and started up the ladder behind her, the soft sound of wails filled his ears. As he pulled himself inside he now understood. Evie was red nosed and blowing into a tattered shirt as she sobbed violently.

“Fix her!”Mal hissed.

“I...Evie?”Jay said taking a step forward. “What’s wrong with her?”  
“I don’t know!”Mal snapped. “I came here to drop some supplies off and she was like...this!”She gestured. Jay rolled his eyes and took a seat on the floor next to her.

“Um...you okay?”He asked. She looked up at him with red eyes and began crying even harder.

“I said fix her!”Mal huffed. “Look what you’ve done”   
Jay glared at her and tentatively patted her head.

“Um what’s wrong?”He asked.

Evie blew her nose one last time. “It’s Carlos”she croaked.

Jay felt his blood run hot.

“Carlos”He breathed. “What? What about him Evie?”

She went to speak but waved her hand bursting into tears again.

His heart was racing. He turned to face her and grabbed her shoulders. “Evie tell me damn it!”

“I don’t know!”she wailed.

“What do you mean you don’t know!”He shouted. Mal watched in shock, jay was hot tempered but he rarely shouted. She only cried harder, Mal stared as his shouting grew louder. She wasn’t sure when it stopped but her ears perked up once Evie composed herself.

“Hell hall was on fire”she whispered. “I was walking in the forest and I saw the smoke”  
“What?”Jay breathed.

“I wanted to believe I was just seeing things but there were people there today, Cruella was found but Carlos…”She sniffled. “The whole place is in ashes Jay but no one could find him”

“Someone started it”She whispered. “Jay do you think Cruella-”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No, just no”

“Jay-”

“This is all my fault”He said carding his fingers through his hair. “I’m the one who brought him,I saw what she was doing to him and I did nothing”

“Jay you did what you could do”Mal said.

“Cruella gets saved but Carlos, he-”He cut himself off and chuckled. “It doesn’t matter”

“Jay-”Evie started.

“No no, I'm just overreacting”now he was laughing, Evie stared in horror. “People on the isle die all the time, this isn’t any different. Evie my bad for yelling at you, it wasn’t cool”

“Jay you’re scaring me”Evie said. “Look it’s okay if he meant something to you, he meant something to me too”

“No one means anything to me”He said turning to face her. “Not him,not Jafar and not you guys. Don’t you realize that people are just liabilities? They just slow you down, why care if you have no use for them?”

“Jay there was use for Carlos”She said trying to reason with him.

“Yeah, was”He snorted. “He’s no longer useful if he’s dead so why should I care?”

“You don’t mean that”Evie said.

“I always mean what I say”He said firmly. “I need to get back to the shop before Jafar notices I'm gone, I'll catch up with you later”  
“Jay!”Mal exclaimed. It was too late, he already had one leg out the window and climbed down. She let out a defeated sigh and ran a hand over her face.  
“Evie I hope you aren’t letting him get to you”Mal said.

“I could never”She said. “He’s just being Jay, he’ll crack one of these days”

“The isle hasn’t been good to him,”Mal said.

“The isle hasn’t been good to anyone, he has no excuse”

Mal hummed in agreement and took a seat on the floor next to her.

“C’mere”She mumbled extending her arm out. Evie quickly responded and scooted closer laying her head on Mal’s chest.

“I read something in my medical book about this”Evie mumbled.

“yeah?”Mal hummed playing with a strand of blue hair.

“It’s supposedly common after a person’s death,”She said. “I think it was called Grief”

* * *

Jay wiped his eyes furiously as he stalked through the forest, no matter how hard he wiped them away the tears continued to sting his eyes. He clenched his nails into his palms and didn’t stop until he felt blood flow down his wrist. He took a shaky inhale at the pain and grounded his feet deeper into the dirt as he walked.

“If I ever find you Cruella i’m skinning you like a dalmation”


	4. Chapter 4

_ “Carlos”He said suddenly. _

_ The boy hummed. _

_ “Once this whole thing blows over I want you to come find me. A few miles past the shop you’ll reach a river, follow the length of the river north until you see an abandoned building,” _

_ A few miles past the shop _

_ A few miles past the shop _

_ A few miles- _

Carlos gasped sitting up on his mat. He chest heaved and despite the snowfall he was slick with sweat. He ran a hand over his chest and frowned, where was his shirt? Squinting into the darkness he felt around for it. Finally grabbing the damp material he pulled it over his head, it clung uncomfortably to his chest. His teeth chattered as he clambered to his feet looking for his shoes. He racked his brain for who gave him this information, the face was so familiar in his dream but the minute he opened his eyes he blanked. He screwed his eyes shut and flashes of dark brown hair crossed his vision. Shaking his head he scoffed and ran a hand over his face, he was losing his mind. He boarded up the windows and shakily reached in his pocket for his lighter, numb fingers pulled it out clutching it tight. Lighting the hearth immediately calmed his nerves, he liked the familiarity of it. He scrambled in front of the fire stuffing the lighter back in his pocket. Leaning forward he fanned the small flame with his hand. Once the flame began to grow he looked at the lighter biting his lip. He wasn’t sure how much longer this lighter was going to last and he didn’t really have the luxury of buying another one. That would mean going into town and going into town wasn’t much of an option.

The last year had been a complete blur, some things he remembered, others he could only visualize, most things came in dreams. Like that boy, or man, he looked older than Carlos so he couldn’t be sure. He appeared in Carlos’ dreams quite often but it was usually like a silent film, or maybe there was a voice? As soon as he woke up all traces of the dream were gone. Carlos had spent numerous hours trying to sketch the man but no matter how hard he tried it never added up, there was always something slightly off about it. From what he could remember memory was never an issue, he wouldn’t have survived with Cruella if he wasn’t sharp. Why was his memory failing him now? Every time he stopped to think about the past year it gave him raging headaches. But this, this message wouldn’t stop irking him no matter how many times he tried to dismiss it. He had done a lot of impulsive things in his lifetime but following a dream message? He didn’t want to add it to the list.

Days passed like snowflakes fell and Carlos still couldn’t shake the code. He was pretty good at keeping it tucked away in the back of his mind but whenever he was doing more mundane tasks his mind wandered. What was ‘the shop’? Who had given him the message? What if he was finally inheriting Cruella’s insanity? It made him antsy. For as long as he could remember he just wanted a break, now he couldn’t even manage to sit still. He had just gotten back inside from collecting more firewood and he was fidgety. He dropped into a criss cross position and made quick work stripping back the damp bark from the wood. He chewed on his lower lip and fell into a daze. The directions seemed coherent enough but what shop? He was assuming it meant the marketplace but there were far too many shops to single it out. There was also the mention of a river. He put down his knife and reached over to his mat grabbing his sketchbook. there were a few hidden rivers on the isle but if he was going through the marketplace that narrowed it down to two. He chewed on the edge of his pencil, rivers usually go downstream, wouldn’t it make sense to follow it south? The tip of the eraser fell out of his mouth and he gasped, unless this building was located north for that very reason! He quickly sketched the map of his plans, and shoved the sketchbook under his arm. 

“Here goes nothing”He mumbled.

He looked around the treehouse and made a mental checklist of everything he needed. He grabbed a coat that was originally Cruella’s and frowned slightly, he was too small for it but it would make do. The thought of dalmation fur made him sick but hell it would keep him warm. He packed a plastic bag full of notebooks and a t shirt he may or may not have stolen. Taking one last look around he blew out the hearth and took the measure of stomping out the embers.  _ Couldn’t have another hell hall _ he thought and chuckled.He opened the hatch and climbed down the ladder, the snow crackled under his sneakers.

“I’m going to be gone for a while”he spoke to the open air.

The trees seemed to sway in understanding, he smiled. He took one last look at the treehouse and he was off.

Pulling the hood of the coat over his head he thanked his lucky stars, this coat wasn’t as show boaty as the others. The dalmation fur only lined the inside, as long as he kept it button up no one would notice. He even changed the style of his walk, he walked slower and more languidly. The snow was beginning to soak his sneakers, wherever he was going he prayed they had a fire. He was nervous to walk through the marketplace, if anyone sees his face, everything he worked so hard on would come crashing down around him. Once the gravel turned to dirt the anxiety thumped in his chest, he was in the marketplace. It was surprisingly quiet, the last time he had been here it had been noisy and full of chaos. Maybe the storm was keeping people inside? He wasn’t going to question it further, whenever he questioned good things they always ended.

He let himself relax shuffling through at a more comfortable rate, bits and pieces of childhood memories fluttered by as he passed certain stores. He smiled passing an antique store, he couldn’t think of any memories there but it was cute. The golden theme was beautiful, he found himself staring. The boy in the window seemed to be staring in return, he looked familiar. Carlos shook it off and forced his feet to keep moving, he needed to get to the river. Jay felt his jaw go slack as the boy shuffled along, was that..? He shook his head, no it couldn’t be, Carlos was dead. He had checked the forest surrounding hell hall more times than he could count, so definitely more than fifty. That place was burned to ashes, the only bones that were found were of some animal. He couldn’t help but toy with the idea of Carlos being alive, but if he was he would’ve went to the hideout. Jay continued to stare out the window watching the footprints in the snow, he’s made a lot of impulsive decisions in his life but this by far wouldn’t be the worst.

He grabbed his jacket off the hook and switched the open sign around. The boy was only a black spot in the distance, he moved fast.  _ Like Carlos _ , Jay thought. He set off after him pulling the jacket tighter around his large frame, he was growing out of his clothes. He cringed at the slush that he stomped down on with every step, the hem of his pants were soaked. He passed Ursula’s fish and chips walking with more urgency, this boy was fast. 

_ “Carlos!”He shouted. _

_ “Sorry can’t hear you!”Carlos shouted over his shoulder. _

_ God this boy was childish. But Jay could not deny he was fast and he had stamina, Carlos had been running at a sustained sprint for over ten minutes, or maybe he wasn’t sprinting? Maybe he was just that fast. He was agile too, dodging carts and carriages not once slowing down. Jay couldn’t help the sinking in his stomach at the prospect of what made him so good at dodging things. Carlos refused to slow down until he reached a clearing, Jay had showed up about eight minutes later out of breath. _

Jay shuddered at the memory and pushed himself to walk faster, the idea of this being Carlos was becoming more and more real. He was starting to catch up and prided himself on that, until he realized the path he was walking. His knees felt like jello and it became hard to breathe, this boy-Carlos was walking towards the river. The adrenaline that soon followed not even Jay could handle, all thoughts of not startling him were abandoned as he began to run. No, scratch that, Jay was sprinting. He was barely dodging patches of ice but he couldn’t force himself to slow down, not when Carlos was just in reach. Carlos was off, weaving his way through the trees hitting the ground with such ferocity he was sure he could feel it shake. Or maybe that was just him? His breath came out in quick puffs of frost, he hadn’t run like this in a long time. His knees buckled underneath him and he grew panicked, he shouldn’t have left his treehouse. As the boy grew closer Carlos tensed up expecting the worse.

He felt the figures looming presence over him and waited for the first punch, he hadn’t got beaten in a while but he was sure he could take it. All he heard was a sharp inhale.

“Carlos?”Jay breathed. 

Carlos’ eyes were blown wide open as he scrambled to sit up. He analyzed the features before him, they matched up to the boy in his dreams. The same long brown hair was flowing over his shoulders.

“Jay”Carlos whispered, the name was pulled out of the depths of his memory but it felt familiar. “Jay!”   
Carlos tackled him to the ground, the older boy landing with a thud. 

“Hey hey easy!”Jay scolded but Carlos ignored him.

“Jay! I-you-Cruella-”He stammered.

“Easy”Jay crooned. “Deep breaths”

Jay’s brows furrowed as he held the shaking boy, this wasn’t the same Carlos he left over a year ago. The blonde took in a few shaky breaths before burying his face in Jays neck. Jay was stunned, what had happened in the year Carlos was gone? It was uncomfortable to say the least but knowing what Cruella did he would let him have this. He patted his back gently eyes darting around the forest rapidly. It was unlikely that anyone would be out walking in the middle of December but he could never be too sure. Once he realized Carlos was not going to move he all but pried the smaller boy from his chest.

“No! Jay!-”Carlos squeaked trying to move back.

“C, calm down”Jay said firmly. “You’re okay, Cruella can’t get you out here”

“Jay”Carlos whispered reverently. He had been all alone but now he had the tiniest bit of familiarity. His eyes were dazed, it took everything in Jay not to shake him.  
“Carlos tell me everything that happened,”Jay said.

“I um the day that you took me back Cruella...she…”he trailed off. The memory was back and fresh in his mind, it was like digging into an old wound.

“What did she do Carlos? I can’t help if I don’t know”Jay said.

“I got my usual beating but this time she knocked me out, I think we had gotten into an argument before that”He said. “After that day most of my memory was gone, I didn’t remember you or...there’s a girl isn’t there? With blue hair?”  
“Yeah”Jay said softly. “That girl is Evie, she’s the one who saved you when you ran away”  
“I ran away?”Carlos asked. “No wonder she was so mad”

“Carlos what exactly do you remember from this past year?”Jay asked.

“I remember you”Carlos said confidently. “I would get these dreams...you were always in them, it would be your face or your voice but it was always you”

“That’s it?”Jay asked, an uncomfortable blush settled over his cheeks. “Nothing about Evie? Mal?”  
“Who is Mal?”Carlos asked.

“Nothing, she’s not important”Jay waved off “I’m really all you remember?”

Carlos nodded and ran a shaking hand over his face, Jay absentmindedly grabbed it. Carlos stared at the contact and Jays embarrassment only deepened.

“Your shaking was getting annoying”He said. “What about uh me made you remember?”

“I don’t know”Carlos said. “I didn’t remember your name until you said mine, I think it may have triggered a memory”

“This is weird”Jay said. “You really don’t remember anything besides me?”

“I mean I remember the blu-Evie”He caught himself. “I remember her vaguely but you, you’re the one who took me back right?”

Jay felt a pang of regret and nodded.

“I remember the walk back to hell hall, I ran away from you and you just couldn’t keep up”He chuckled. “You gave me these directions…”

His speech trailed off into a whisper as he stared at the snow in front of him. Jay faltered and waved a hand in front of the freckled boys face, whatever facade he had covering up his worry was slowly cracking.

“Carlos!”Jay exclaimed snapping his fingers. Carlos let out a quiet squeak and blinked rapidly.

“You came inside a-and you saw Cruella, I made you leave”He said quietly. “You didn’t want to leave but I was angry”

“Why?”Jay asked. “Why did you make me leave? I could have helped you”

“Because you thought I was weak, I wanted to prove that I wasn’t”Carlos said.

“Carlos you are so fucking stupid!”Jay snarled causing the younger boy to flinch. “You took a beating and lost your memory because you cared what I thought!?”  
“It wasn’t just that!”Carlos snapped.

“Then why?”Jay demanded crossing his arms. “Why do it?”  
“Because you really couldn’t have helped”He said.

“You underestimate me”Jay said.

“No I think I know exactly what you’re capable of”Carlos said. “You couldn’t have killed Cruella”  
“And why not?”Jay growled.

“Because I wanted to!”Carlos exclaimed. “I wasn’t letting you take that away from me”

“You wanted to do what?”Jay breathed, all fire from his eyes was gone. “You would have killed your mother?”

“Yeah, I almost had her too”Carlos said. “She was no more my mother than she was a crazy old bat, I was just her servant”

“You almost had her-”Jays eyes widened. “You...you set fire to hell hall?”

“Guilty”Carlos smirked.

“I just didn’t think you were capable of that”Jay said.

“Now you’re the one underestimating me, look how the tables have turned”Carlos chuckled.

“How the tables what?”Jay asked.

“Nevermind”Carlos waved off. “Jay we grew up on the same isle around the same shit and you really think i’m not capable of murder?”

“You just seemed…”Jay trailed off.

“Innocent?”Carlos supplied. “I guess you could say that”  
“But you’re willing to kill?”Jay asked.

“To save myself yes”Carlos said. “If I just wanted to murder her I would’ve done it a long time ago, she’s always drunk,she’s old as fuck and I cook for her. There’s a million ways I could’ve killed her by now but I didn’t, I don’t believe in unprompted violence”

“Then what kind of violence do you believe in?”Jay asked.

“I believe in self defense,”Carlos said. “I will always run instead of fighting back, unless someone pushes me to the brink”

“Carlos…”Jay said, now he was the one lost for words. “You’re not making sense”  
“I think I make plenty of sense”Carlos shrugged. “You just can’t shake the isle mentality. Every fight doesn’t have to be physical and every argument doesn’t have to end in a fight”

“You’re fucking crazy”Jay said shaking his head. “If you think like that then how did you survive this long?”

“Because I made people believe I was weak and whether they realized it or not they took pity on me,”Carlos said.

“Cruella was constantly beating you, you were covered in bruises when I saw you”Jay argued.

“Yeah but I wasn’t dead”He said. “Even Cruella had pity in her dormant little heart, I was also useful. She couldn’t afford to kill me because no one else would do her bidding”

“You’re so fucking smart”Jay said. “You’re actually a genius, why did you get dumped on this isle with the rest of us?”  
“Because Cruella is fucking insane”Carlos laughed, and it was genuine. It made Jay feel a little bit more at ease. “But trust me i’ve got plans”

“Plans?”Jay questioned.

“Mhm”Carlos hummed. “Plans to get off of the isle”

“Get off the isle?”Jay questioned. “You’re actually insane, how would you even do it?”

“That’s for me to worry about, not you”He said. “Just know that i’ve got a plan and if all ends well then we’ll be free”

“What if it doesn’t end well?”Jay asked suddenly. His eyes softened and he unfolded his arms.“What if we end up stuck here forever?”

“Then we find a way to make it bearable”Carlos said with a shrug.

“Well how are we going to do that?”Jay asked.

Carlos wanted to scream. Just because he was smart didn’t mean he had all the answers.

“Then we’ll figure it out”He said, finality in his tone. “We’re isle kids, we always figure something out”

“Yeah”Jay said, a smile playing on his lips. “We’ll figure it out”


	5. Chapter 5

Evie was more relieved. Jay had passed on the message of Carlos’ memory loss and gave him multiple chances to back out, of course he didn’t. He climbed up the window after Jay and almost shadowed him. Before he could get a second to look around he saw a flash of blue hair and was flat on his back

“Carlos!”She cried out. He stiffened when she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into the crook of her neck. He only allowed himself to relax when Jay gave him a slight nod, she didn’t seem dangerous but he could never be too sure. He rubbed her back as she sniffled, this hug was more for her than him. He tried to roll out from underneath her and she got the message pulling him to his feet.

“I’m sorry it’s just-”she sniffled and cupped his face. “Gosh you look so much older, you’ve gotten handsome too”

“Jeez so I was ugly before?”He teased.

“I’m so sorry I let Jay take you”She said. “I know villains never apologize but Carlos I thought you were  _ dead _ and the mere thought of having to live with that-”

“Hey”He said softly and grabbed her hands. “I’m alive. I’m okay”

This only caused her to cry harder. He shushed her and carded a hand through her dark blue hair.

Dark blue.

He groaned softly and screwed his eyes shut.

_ “You’ll be okay”She said gently. “Unlike some people I won’t leave you to die” _

_ He almost smiled but caught himself, she still thinks that he’s asleep. The hand now felt underneath his chin, it took everything in him not to flinch. _

_ “I really need to get you some ibuprofen your fever is only going to get worse” _

_ With that she left the room. _

_ This girl is kind, he thought. The isle is going to eat her alive. _

“Carlos!”Jay barked in alarm moving towards him. He blinked rapidly before shutting his eyes again, no he couldn’t lose this. He needed to know her.

“No”He whispered squeezing his eyes shut again. “Please”

But just as soon as the memory came it was gone.

“Carlos”Evie whispered pulling back to cup his face. He looked up to face her and felt his eyes water.

“Evie”He croaked. He didn’t remember everything but he remembered just enough to feel something. He let out a choked exhale and buried his face into her chest wrapping his arms around her. She was more than the girl with blue hair, this was his Evie. He could be a little vulnerable with her.

“Evie, I-I don’t remember everything but-”

“It’s okay Carlos”She hushed. “I’m here now”   
He didn’t cry. But he also didn’t move his face from her chest for a while just in case he did.

“Aw what a lovely family reunion”Mal said waltzing over to the two. Carlos immediately pulled away and stared at her, her voice was familiar.

“We never really had a formal introduction, I’m Mal”She said flashing her eyes. He let out a gasp and quickly averted his. She gave a satisfied huff and clicked her tongue, guess she didn’t have to break this one in.

“Be nice”Evie said.

Mal rolled her eyes and gave Carlos’ hair a playful tousle-well, as playful as her heavy hands could be.

“You scared these two kid, don’t go disappearing like that again”She said in warning.

He nodded quickly.

Jay took a step forward and slung his arm around the boy.

“Don’t worry, me and E won’t let him out of our sight”

* * *

Staying true to his word, wherever Jay went Carlos wasn’t too far behind him. Mal had grown almost endeared with the two and nicknamed the boy ‘puppy’ or ‘pup’ for short. Jay had eventually claimed that nickname as his own so she settled for calling him ‘spots’ or ‘dalmatian’ instead. Whenever Jay needed to go into the marketplace to work a shift he was passed and rotated among the three like an assembly line. He hasn’t had a moment to himself since he stumbled upon Jay almost two months ago. It was sweet at first how much they cared but he was beginning to get annoyed. They were treating him like a child, he wasn’t allowed in public by himself, he couldn’t wander around the hideout and someone needed to be with him at all times.  In between scribbling away in his notebook and observing the group dynamics he still found a way to be bored. He was used to his day being scheduled out down to his bathroom breaks. He'd never had this much downtime, it was undeniably foreign.  Right now he was squished between Mal and Evie on the worn out couch, Jay had taken the floor, they were all doing some mundane task. He inwardly rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to pout, it was childish but he couldn’t help but to be bored! Even living with Cruella he had more freedom than he did with his gang.

“What’s with the long face C?”Mal asked turning to him.

“It’s nothing I was just...thinking”He said softly.

She nodded and turned her attention back to the notebook in her hand. Another thing, school. No matter how much he begged they wouldn’t let him go back to school. There was always the risk of him being caught and returned back to Cruella, they couldn’t risk it. Besides, after missing a year of school they were a grade ahead of him. That meant they couldn’t keep their eyes on him which somehow translated to him being immediate danger.

“Jay?”He asked.

“Yeah C?”Jay answered not looking up from his notebook. The nickname was common in the group but the way Jay said it made him feel hot, like he had a fever all over again. He almost asked Evie to check his forehead but decided against it.

“C?”Jay said reaching up to poke the boys leg. “What did you want?”

“Nothing”he said shaking his head. He didn’t give Jay the chance to answer before averting his eyes. That sick hot feeling was back and spreading to the tips of his ears, maybe he should check in with Evie. Jay shrugged and turned back to the notebook in front of him.

“Wait, Carlos?”He said.

The boy hummed and kept his eyes trained on the floor.

“Do this for me?”

It should have been a command but the slight inflection indicated it was a question.

“Do what?”Carlos answered dumbly.

“My math homework”Jay said. Equations. That would get Carlos’ mind off the weird feeling in his stomach. With protests from the girls he sank to his knees beside Jay and sat back on his heels. Jay looked at him with a slight catch in his breath, Carlos was none the wiser to it.

“You don’t have to kneel anymore”Jay commented.

“I know”Carlos said. “I’m just comfortable like this. Now, let me see what you’re working on”

He scooted forward and grabbed the papers.

“Jay”He said. “Do  _ you _ even know what you’re doing?”

“Yes!”Jay scoffed. He faltered under Carlos’ raised brow. “No…”

“Exactly”Carlos huffed. “You don’t even pay attention, how do you expect me to help you?”

“Well I didn’t say help me, I said do it”He said.

Carlos chuckled and put the papers down. “No”

“No?”Jay repeated. 

“No”Carlos said pushing them towards the beanie clad boy. “Either you’re going to learn how to do it or it’s not getting done”

Mal quietly set down her notebook and tapped Evie to watch. This could get interesting.

“You can’t tell me no”Jay scoffed.

“Well I just did”Carlos said and he was smirking. It wasn’t often he caught Jay off guard but when he did it was more than satisfying.

“What if I made you?”Jay said. “Then you’d be forced to do it”

“You can’t force me to do anything”Carlos said. “Try again Jayden”

“Oh my…”Mal trailed off.

Jays nostrils flared as he took in a shaky breath, his hands were bunched at his side. “Don’t talk to me like that and do not, call me Jayden”

“You’re all talk”Carlos waved off.

“So are you”Jay said.

“Yeah but we’ve already established that I'm a liar. What’s your excuse?”

“The only reason i’m not kicking your ass is because I feel sorry for you”He said through clenched teeth.

“Yeah?”Carlos chuckled. “Then I'll go”

“Carlos no”Evie said. “Don’t listen to Jay he’s just being an asshole”

“So I’m the asshole?”Jay said throwing his hands up. “This is unbelievable”

“Yeah you kinda are”Evie said. “You can’t just force people to do what you want, his response was justified. I think that was the first time we’ve seen Carlos stand up for himself, we should be proud of him”

“Yeah...I guess”Jay said with a glare. “Good job C” 

All the heat was gone from his words and Carlos was pissed.

“I can hold my own guys!”Carlos exploded. “I don’t know why you think i’m so incapable of taking care of myself. I-It’s like you think we grew up on two different Isles! I’m not some defenseless little kid! I can fight,I can steal,I’m brave, I-.”

He took a deep breath until all the fight was gone from his body.

“I’m sick and fucking tired of having to prove myself!”He spat. “I don’t need my battles fought for me, i’m not a kid”

He did what he did best, he ran. He dodged Jay and made an escape for the window. Scaling it clumsily he hit the ground running, he ignored the calls of his name and ran until there was nothing but trees in sight. The one thing he couldn’t outrun was his emotions, the tears burned at his eyes and clawed up his throat begging to be released, a scream,a sob, anything. So he did. He screamed until his voice was raw and his knees were too weak to support his weight. He picked at the grass on the ground and ran his hands through it, he hasn’t been outside in days. With no sign of Evie or Jay he let his guard down and fell back into the grass, it was still wet with melted snow but felt amazing against his skin. Even the dirty isle air was a welcome change to his lungs, it was liberating. He looked up at the barrier growing mesmerized by the gentle shimmer, it was so close but still a few hundred different calculations so far.

“I should have done this weeks ago”He whispered.

“Guys what did we do?”Evie said running a hand over her face.

“We fucked up, that’s what we did”Jay sighed. “We should go get him-”

“No”Mal cut in. “Didn’t you hear what he said? Let him be”

“And let him die out there?”Jay scoffed. “No way, I'm going after him”

“That’s exactly it”Mal said. “You’re doing the thing he doesn’t want you too!”  
“I’m wha..?”Jay asked.

“Ugh!”She groaned and chucked her pencil at him. “You both have been underestimating and pitying him since the minute he got here! You think someone who’s weak would have set their own house on fire and then lived off of nothing for a year? Huh?”   
There was silence.

“Answer me!”she shouted.

“No, but-”

“But nothing!”She exclaimed. “Carlos is stronger than everyone in this room because he’s not just smart, he’s resilient. None of us could have gone through Cruella’s beatings and still have the nerve to go back. None of us dealt with being the smallest in the group, none of us had to deal with abuse coming at us from  _ all _ angles. Carlos went through all of that shit and still had the nerve to smile and be  _ good _ and not hold it against anyone”

Jay held his head down in shame while Evie picked at her nails.

“I know we’re supposed to be evil but we don’t have to be cruel,”she said. “And personally the cruelest thing you can do is underestimate someone. I mean you didn’t even give him the chance to try and prove himself-”

“Alright!”Jay snapped. “We get it. You can quit the guilt tripping”

“I made you feel guilty?”She smirked. “That means my lecture worked”

“Well...what do we do now?”Evie said. “I mean he’s all alone out there”

“We wait for him to come back”Mal shrugged.

“What if he never comes back?”Jay asked. “Then what do we do?”

“If he doesn’t come back then it’s his  _ choice _ ”She explained. “I don’t think he’s been given many choices in his life, let him have this one”

“Why would he give this up?”Evie lamented. “He had constant protection,food,a place to sleep. He was safe”

“Well would you rather be safe, or would you rather be free?”She said.

“Since when did you become wise?”Evie questioned.

“I always have been”She shrugged. “I guess you’ve been underestimating more than just him”

“I feel...regret”Jay said softly. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life and I've never felt this before”

“Because you didn’t really regret them”She said patting his shoulder. “If regret doesn’t come from the heart it’s not honest”

“Alright seriously what’s gotten into you?”Jay said pulling away. “You’re starting to freak me out, Mal would have punched me by this point”

“I’ve been reading this book from Auradon”She said. “It was thrown into one of the barges, dingy as hell but it’s interesting. It’s a book on mental health and emotion and a whole bunch of shit we’ve probably never felt before”

“Why?”Jay asked.

“Emotions are ‘suppressed’ here”she said using air quotes. “You can’t be evil if you feel things like regret and sadness”

“That’s bullshit”Jay scoffed. “You’re telling me these Auradon people just have all these emotions we haven’t ‘unlocked’ yet? Oh! Oh! What level do I need to get to before I start feeling happiness?”

And this time Mal did punch him.

“Ow”He winced rubbing his arm.

“I haven’t finished it yet but I think the chapter on trauma has something to do with it? I mean the way our parents brought us up”

“Do Auradon kids have it any different?”He asked.

“I wouldn’t know”She shrugged.

“I heard in Auradon parents hug their children”Evie chimed in.

“Ew”Jay said scrunching his nose up. “How does that make them stronger?”

“I dunno”Mal pondered. “Maybe it’s a way to practice being snuck up on and grabbed?”

“Do they even get training knives over there?”He asked.

“Or mini chemistry sets?”Evie said.

“I wonder if they know how to handle poison?”Mal said.

“We need Carlos back now, the curiosity is killing me”Jay groaned.

“He’ll be back, just give him time”Mal said. “In the meantime, the least we could do is look more into this whole ‘getting off the isle’ thing. He’s smart as hell I’ll give him that but this is close to impossible.”

“Guys”Evie said. “He left his notebooks!”

“Oh! Let me see!”Mal said jumping for them.

“Yeah we’re the ones who should be ashamed”Jay muttered.

“Oh shut up! Don’t you want to know what’s going on in his nerdy little brain?”Mal teased.

“...Yeah, make space for me”He said and squeezed onto the couch next to them.

“Open that one!”Evie pointed. “I gave him that one”

“Fine”Mal grumbled and flipped the page open.

_ Neutrals _

_ I think i’ve cracked the code. Staying with Evie has made me realize something about neutrals. While they don’t fall into a biological need for dominance or submission there’s still have the want for it, it’s fascinating. She’s smart,she’s beautiful,she’s powerful and she could easily be such a leader but she’s not. Not because she’s weak or has any flaws but because she doesn’t want to. She’s managed to avoid the lust for power while also bending to the will of only those she chooses. She could easily over power Mal but I think she likes being controlled, it makes her smile a little afterward. Like when she gets an equation right or comes back with food enough for the both of us, It calms her. It’s amazing how the relinquishing of all control can really be beneficial, more on this later she’s coming back. _

“Oh my evil…”Evie whispered.

“You like being controlled?”Mal questioned but there was no teasing. “Why?”

“I…”Evie stammered wiping her palms on her leggings. “I don’t know! All I know is this kid is far too observant for his own good!”

“You’re telling me”Jay huffed, he had already moved on to a different notebook. “Look at this one”

_ Conflict in dynamics. _

_ I’ve only been writing about the dynamics separately and with their counterpart but I’ve never thought about them clashing. A fight between Jayden and Jafar happened at the marketplace today, i’ve never seen anything like it. Most Isle kids obey their parents but he refused to stand down, even when Jafar was making a scene. This has me thinking, can the traits be passed down? I mean the probability of that is roughly less than 20% but at this point anything is a possibility. It could be a psychological thing too but I don’t know enough about him to come to any conclusions. I think he’s being supr _

“And then it just ends there!”He exclaims. “This boy is dangerous, I didn’t even know he was there that day”

“This is interesting though”Mal said. “If only  _ someone _ didn’t drive him away I could lend him my mental health book so he could make sense of it”

“What does this have to do with your stupid book? And what does dominant even mean?”He said.

“From what he said about Evie I think it means being in control?”Mal said. “Which you like to do anyways”

“Yeah but why is he making a whole notebook out of it? That’s common here, everyone wants control”He said.

“Maybe he wants to know why it’s common”She said. “Give me, maybe I could find something else on it”

“No way!”Jay said holding it out of reach. “I’m not adding anymore fuel to your freak feast, i’ve had enough for the night”

“You’re so stupid!”Mal said. “Just because your pea brain doesn’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s weird”

“So you’re going to call me stupid and then expect me to give you the book?”He asked. “Nice try”

“This is interesting though”Evie insisted. “I wanna know why I like letting people control things, maybe Carlos’ notebook has the answer”

“Because you’re weak”Jay answered. “Next question”

“No no guys wait”Mal said flipping a few pages. “This one is short but it makes you think”

_ Submission _

_ One thing that I’ve grown to know just sitting in the marketplace is that true power lies in the hands of the one giving it up. _

“That doesn’t make any sense,”Jay said. “If you’re giving up power it means you lost”  
“Maybe that’s because you can’t understand it from an uh...submissive’s point of view. I mean come on Jay you and Jafar have been fighting for power in that tiny ass shop from the minute you learned to talk back. Look it says it right here!”She said pointing to a passage. “Natural born leaders will fight for power the minute it’s taken away because it stabilizes them. Some people go mad with power but Jay...you’re the most angry when you’re not in control”

“I've had enough of this”He said snatching the notebook from her hands. “We’re done looking at the notebooks”

“Jay-”Mal said.

“I mean it. It’s just putting bullshit in our heads. No one look at them, no one touch them and forget we even had this conversation”He said. “The isles got all the answers we need, not that dumb notebook. Craving power is normal, we’re villains and if you willing give it up you’re fucking stupid”

“Don’t be a dick because I told you the truth”Mal said. “You just can’t handle it”

“Oh I can handle a bunch of things, just not bullshit excuses for why I act the way I do”he said.

“You’re a coward”Evie said. It surprised both of them but Jay just chuckled.

“Shouldn’t you be taking orders right now? Isn’t that what you like to do? Down girl”He smirked.

“I hope hades finds you one day and when he does I hope you burn!”She cursed. She was the next one out of the window, she hit the ground with a thump and was gone.

“Is that what you plan on doing?”Mal said. “Driving everyone away until there’s no one else to try and sort out your fucked up brain?”

“There’s nothing wrong with my brain!”He said swatting at her hand. “Can you really blame me for being pissed when everyone decides to stop making sense?”

“It’s not making sense because you don’t want it to”She said. “It’s too easy for you, makes too much sense. Everything’s gotta be a fight or it’s a trap”

“When did you get so soft?”He asked. She scoffed and quickly grabbing his arm pinning it behind his back and shoving him to the floor. Before he could squirm she pounced on him and kept him pinned down.

“I’m, not soft at all”She said applying pressure. “But you’re out of practice”

“Fuck Mal that hurts quit it”He groaned.

She pushed harder.

“Not until you say mercy”She said and pulled it taut across his back.

“Never”He said through gritted teeth.

She kept pulling until she let out a noise of disgust and rolled off of him. “You were willing to let me break your arm just so you didn’t have to say mercy. Carlos was right about you”

“Fuck” he panted. “Off”

“Oh I will”She said. “You know where to find me when you wanna except yourself”

She was the last one out of the window, landing with a practiced silence and disappearing into the night. Jay groaned and flopped onto the couch cradling his arm.

He was all alone.


	6. Chapter 6

“Father?”Ben said hesitantly as he walked into the office. “I heard you’ve got a letter recently...from the isle”

“Yes.”King Adam said curtly. “How does this concern you?”

_ Be brave _ his mother’s voice fluttered in his head.

“I want to know what it says”he said firmly. 

King Adam sighed and wordlessly slid the paper over. “Go ahead”

_ Dear King Adam, _

_ I know there’s a chance this letter won’t even reach you but I’m desperate enough to try my luck. If this is the king Adam reading this I would like to introduce myself, my name is Carlos. I’m writing to you to give you a little insight into what’s happening over here. I know you care little about the miserable creatures you dumped here but what about their children? We are living in poverty, our food is being looted, we have little to no water and we live off of wine. The authorities you’ve sent over are corrupt and the schooling system is quite frankly terrible. Did you know isle children are only in school four months out of the year? Maybe fewer if their parents have anything to say about it. Most isle children can only count,read and spell their names. What you’ve left is no reformatory but a slow burn genocide, Six isle children have already died due to the poor conditions. I have no number of the ones dead due to violence or the corrupt authority. I guess the reason I’m writing this is to beg you to do something about this. We can not keep living  _ like this, in  _ my short time alive I’ve faced death more times than I can count. Please king Adam, our safety lies in the hands of you. _

_ Sincerely, _

_ Carlos _

_ Son of Cruella De Vil _

“I’m sorry Father but I don’t understand the hesitation,”he said. “Can you not see this is a cry for help?”

“Benja-“

“You were just going to ignore this? Leave them there to die?”He accused.

“Ben my hands are tied”he said tiredly. “Villains are not incompetent. This could be a ploy from Cruella herself and he could be her puppet. How am I supposed to know this boys intentions? If everyone over there is so uneducated then how is he so well articulated? Benjamin you’re going to be king soon, these are the questions you have to ask yourself. You can’t just follow your heart in matters like this”

“Mother would think different,”he said. He struggled to keep the tears from burning his eyes. “Father I’ll tell her. I’ll tell her if you don’t stop-“he caught himself.

Adam narrowed his eyes. “Speak Benjamin, if I don’t stop what?”

“...If you don’t stop acting in cowardice”he said

“I think our conversation here is done”King Adam said.

“Father-“

“It’s done”he said firmly. 

His eyes were ablaze and Ben could see the remnants of a beastly flame in them.

“Our people used to think you were evil once,”he said. “Give at least him a chance or when I am King I will drop the barrier”

“You just don’t quit do you?”King Adam said with a chuckle.

“This is no joke Father”Ben said. His voice was even despite being petrified.

“You know where my answer lay, don’t make me say it and hurt your feelings”King Adam said.

Ben felt a prickling of anger and squared his shoulders.

“As you wish Father”   
  


* * *

“Carlos”Evie said climbing up the ladder. “I was down by the dock bargaining with some goblins and you got a letter!”

The three were squished in his treehouse but they were making it work.

“Let me see it”he said. She brought it over and he carefully opened it.

_ Dear Carlos, _

_ This is Prince Benjamin writing back to you, my father is busy and put me in charge of his penning, I hope you don’t mind. I am extremely moved by your letter and on my Father's behalf apologize for the descendants of those abandoned on the isle of the lost. Although moving I can’t help but to inquiry exactly what you were asking for? Do you need aid or do you seek asylum. I apologize for the briefness of this letter and I hope you pen back soon, _

_ Benjamin Florian  _

“Guys....”Carlos breathed. It was more than he could have asked for, his hands shook.

“What?”Mal asked. “Is it bad news?”

“N-no”He said. “It’s just...I sent that letter almost two years ago...I gave up a long time ago and now seeing it is surreal”

“Alright alright don’t orgasm onto the royal papers”Mal said rolling her eyes. “Tell us what it says”

“Right!”Carlos said. “Um it’s not from the king himself but the Prince-“

“Prince?”Evie butted in. Mal sneered and wrapped an arm around her.

“Uh Prince Ben, he apologized for basically damning us here. Then he asked what we want from this...”

“What’s the catch?”Mal asked.

“I don’t think there is one. He said do we need help or are we looking to leave”

“We need to leave!”They both shouted. Carlos flinched.

“We can’t seem too desperate-“

“But we are desperate!”Mal said. “I’ve been wanting to leave this place for years, start writing!”

“I need to word it correctly hold on!”He said. “This isn’t a one and done thing”

“Why not!”Mal shouted.

“Because in the letter I only mentioned myself”he sighed. “I’m going to need to say I’m bringing three more people-“

“Woah woah woah three?”Evie said.

“Yeah three”Carlos said. “You,Mal and Jay-“

“You want to bring Jay?”Mal said. “After everything he’s done?”

Carlos shook his head. “He’s not as bad as he seems”

“Carlos I’ve known him since we were this big and you’re telling me?” Mal asked.

_ “Hey”Carlos said poking the boys shoulder.. Jay spun around and quickly caught the boys wrist in his grip before he recognized the voice. _

_ “Carlos?”He questioned letting go of it. “What are you doing out here?” _

_ “What are you doing out here?”He asked taking a seat on the soft grass next to him. _

_ “I asked you first”Jay said _

_ “Looking for you”Carlos said simply. “Now answer my question” _

_ “It was too stuffy in there,”he said biting his lip. _

_ “Mhm”Carlos nodded. “You mind giving me the real answer? I’m a little tired and don’t feel like playing games” _

_ Jay huffed and turned away from him facing the river. _

_ “That is the real answer,”He said. _

_ “Yeah?”Carlos said. _

_ “Yeah”Jay said. _

_ “Okay”Carlos said. That caught him off guard, he was expecting the boy to press the subject. _

_ “What are you doing?”Jay asked. “Go back inside” _

_ “Nope”Carlos said popping the p  _

_ “Why?”Jay sighed _

_ “Because I don’t want-“ _

_ “No”Jay said shaking his head. “Why do you want to stay out here...with me?” _

_ Carlos let his voice drop to a whisper, “I know what it’s like to have a bad dream and be alone.” _

_ “C-“ _

_ “You don’t have to tell me about it”Carlos said. “Just let me sit out here with you” _

_ “Fine”Jay sighed. The two sat in silence and listened to the gentle sound of water crashing against the rocks. _

“I just know”Carlos said rolling his eyes. “We can’t just leave him behind because he made a shitty decision”

“Carlos he’s an asshole”Evie said. “I don’t get why you’re not seeing that”

“We’re all assholes”Carlos scoffed. “This is the isle and Jay is nicer than most people here by a long shot. He just gets angry when he’s confused, he doesn’t like not knowing things”

“He doesn’t even try to understand”Mal huffed.

“Because he’s afraid,”Carlos said.

“You can’t keep defending him”Mal said. “He’s going to have to own up to his mistakes”

“Maybe you guys are just way too hard on him,”Carlos said. “Mal don’t act innocent and pretend you haven’t done anything shitty”

“I’m not”She huffed. “At least when I do messed up things I acknowledge I did them”

“No you don’t quit being a hypocrite”He said.

“You-”

“Remember, I hear a lot more than you guys think I do”He said. “I tell you this all the time”

“Whatever”She said

_ Because i’m right _ he thought.

“I read this book from Auradon and it had this amazing quote.”He said. “ It said ‘you can’t heal in the place you’ve been hurt’. Isn’t that true? None of us will be better than our parents if we rot away here, the same goes for Jay. He’s not like Jafar, he just doesn’t know how to think for himself.”

“I mean...yeah”Mal said.

“Now i’m not making excuses for Jays behaviour, he’s been an asshole on more than several occasions but he won’t get any better if he’s stuck here”He said.

“But that is an excuse!”Evie said. “I mean you lived with Cruella and you’re not an asshole”  
“You don’t know who I used to be”He said. “I wasn’t always nice”

“What-”

“It’s not important just-we’re taking Jay and that’s final!”He said quickly.

Mal narrowed her eyes and nodded.

“I’ll go talk some sense into Jay, you just focus on writing that letter, spots”

* * *

“A letter for the King-“

“I’ll take that”Ben said snatching it and quickly walking down the hall to his room. “Thank you!”

The mail bringer stared in confusion and shook her head. That boy really was an odd one.

_ Dear Prince Benjamin, _

_ I hope you’ve been well and I’ve come to a conclusion. My friends and I want asylum, I refuse to go alone. I know this is brash but you take all of us or none of us, they’re my family. _

_ Sincerely, _

_ Carlos & the descendants  _

Ben couldn’t make sense of it, from what he’s read about the isle family is a concept that doesn’t exist. Everyone is there for themselves, the probability of one like minded person was fine but four? Maybe he was in over his head.

“Knock knock”A soft voice said. Ben quickly scrambled to hide the letter.

“Come in!”He said. Queen Belle floated into the room and took a seat on the bed next to him. It made him happy to see her, she had been in Arendale for a few weeks conferring with Queen Elsa about the tax on ice.

“Ben”she said warmly. In that moment he knew he couldn’t hide anything from her.

“Mama”he sighed. “I think I’m in way over my head”

After discussing the events using some very colorful language she smiled.

“You’ve always followed your heart, ever since you were a boy”she said fondly.

“You’re...you’re not mad at me?”he said.

“I could never be mad at you, you’re trying to be fair, but did you really call your father a coward?”she said.

He felt the blush rise to the tips of his ears and nodded.

“You really shouldn’t be challenging your father”she chided. “I get you’re at the age where a young Dominants hormones are-”

“Mama  _ please _ !”he said quickly. “Spare me the details, I know it was wrong. I-I just got so angry and it’s the first thing that came out of my mouth!”

“You are your fathers child”she mused.

“I just don’t know what to do”he said flopping over onto her lap. “One of them was fine but maybe dad was right...maybe this is some plot...”

“The only way to know a person is to know them,”she said.

“I...I don’t understand”he said.

“I’m just saying that maybe we can take a little trip while your father is away,”she said.

“Are you suggesting we go to the isle?”he asked.

“Ah, smart boy!”she said clapping her hands together. 

“But what will father think?”He asked.

“ I’m the Queen, I don’t need your father's approval for everything”She said

“B-but mama he could force you not to go, you know he can”He said.

“Ben, it’s not the same for neutrals”She said. “The minute your father and I took those vows we became equals”

“I don’t understand”He said. “He still has power over you”

“Because I allow him to. Dominants have the natural urge to claim and conquer so I let him”

Ben blinked. “Gross mama”

“Oh whatever, you wanted to know.”she waved off. “Now, you should be writing a letter telling them-actually, who are they?”

“Carlos”he supplied. “He calls his friends the descendants”

“Do we know who their parents are?”she said. “We will obviously have to speak to them”

“We do?”he winced.

“Of course!”Queen Belle said. “I’m assuming they’re not the legal age of adulthood so just taking them would be kidnapping”

“Yeah but one of those parents is Cruella De Vil”he said.

Queen Belle made a face.

“Oh the way she must be treating that poor child,”she said.

“And Gaston is on the isle Mama, are you sure you want to face him?”he said.

“I never feared Gaston”she said evenly. “And we will be taking royal guards anyways, no need to be afraid”

“You’re brave”he said.

“And so are you, my little beast!”she said pinching his cheeks.

“Mooommm!”he whined swatting her hand away.

“You go write that letter and I’ll be in the study if you need me”she said

* * *

It had been a few weeks since he’s heard back and it was driving him to the point of being ill. Evie held a rag to his forehead, this was all his fault. If he had worded it better, hadn’t been so blunt then he could have reasoned with the Prince. They were stuck here and it was all his fault.

“Guys!”Mal’s voice shouted faintly. “Guys open up the hatch! We’ve got a letter!”

Jay scrambled to pull the hatch open and helped Mal inside.

“A letter?”Carlos said weakly trying to sit up. “Let me see it”

Mal handed it to him and he sniffles ripping it open.

_ Dear Descendants, _

_ Before we can make any solid plans we need to meet with your leader and speak in person. My mother and I will be stopping by the isle in precisely a month on the fourth of April. It is requested that you come with your parents so that we can work this out with them. I can not wait to finally meet you in person. _

_ Sincerely, _

_ Ben _

“Carlos...Carlos!”Mal said hitting his shoulder.

“Hm?!”He jolted.

“What does it say?”she asked. Evie and Jay nodded staring at him.

“It says they’re stopping by the isle to meet us...and to bring our parents”He cringed.

“Our what?”Jay seethed. “I haven’t spoken to Jafar in months!”

“I’m guessing since we’re teenagers that they need consent from an adult”

“Consent?”Jay asked. “What does that even mean?”

“Yeah”Evie said.

“It means like saying it’s okay to go over there,”He said.

“Oh”Jay said. “How the fuck are we going to do that?”

“We’ve gotta brainstorm”Evie said. “C, hand us a notebook”

He nodded wordlessly and grabbed a random one chucking it over.

“We can say we’re going over there to start shit”Carlos supplied.

“That’s a good start”Mal said jotting it down. “But what would we be starting?”

“Who’s got the biggest weakness in Auradon?”Jay asked. “If we can find out who it is then we can capitalize on that and say we’re using them to break the barrier”

They all stared at him and his cheeks pinkened 

“What?”he said. “I’m not stupid all the time”

“That...that was just a really good idea Jay”Carlos blinked. “I didn’t think you knew what capitalize meant if I’m being honest”

“Burn with Hades”he said waving him off.

Mal was scribbling furiously and jotting down her own unspoken ideas.

“Fairy godmother”she muttered.

“What?”Carlos said.

“Fairy godmother!”Mal said looking towards the group. “If we say we’re going to get her wand they’ll have to let us go!”

“Mal you’re a genius!”Jay said running over to pick her up.

“Let me down you idiot!”she cried but couldn’t help the smile on her face.

“C...what are you going to do about Cruella?”Evie asked softly.

“Don’t worry about that”Carlos smirked. “I’ve got someone else”

* * *

April fourth came and there the four stood at the barges. Evie’s face was blank but Carlos could see it in her eyes that she was over the moon. Jay stood a reasonable distance from Jafar with his jaw clenched, Maleficent doing the same as she glowered at the water.

“You sure this’ll work?”Diego said gripping Carlos’ shoulder. “I mean what if they demand to see Cruella-“

“No one has seen her since I set the fire”he said lowly. “If I say she’s dead and you’re my only living relative we will be fine”

“Jeez”Diego said shakily. “Can you cool down on the maturity? I’m supposed to be the older cousin”

“Never”Carlos smirked.

The ship came into view and Carlos sucked in a quick breath, they were here and he needed to speak with them. He peered around the isle and felt mixed emotions about this whole thing, what if he couldn’t live up to their expectations? What if he had to come back? The whole thing was making him feel sick.

“You’re nervous now”Diego said quietly. Carlos punched his shoulder and rolled his eyes.

Once it docked Carlos’ eyes widened at the gun wielding men decked out in white and gold suites.  _ They must be guard _ s he thought. A boy who looked to be around his age quickly descended the stairs.

His eyes were wide with curiosity and he searched the group looking for whoever matched the description. He locked eyes with Carlos then Diego and quickly walked over.

“You must be Carlos”he said extending his arm to the taller boy. He just smirked and pointed towards the glaring boy below him.

“I’m Carlos”he said. Ben gasped before quickly hiding it behind a smile. This boy looked young, too young to have that vocabulary. It didn’t sit well with him.

“ I’m sorry about that, you two have got quite the family resemblance going on”he said. Carlos unknowingly sized him up and squared his shoulders.

“Yeah”he said curtly. “That’s my older cousin, Diego”

“Hi”Diego waved.

“A pleasure”Ben smiled.

“Benjamin I told you to wait!”the woman scolded. 

“Sorry mother”he said.

“That’s the Queen?”Diego whispered in his ear. She didn’t really look like a queen, she had on jeans and a tee shirt, she wasn’t even wearing her crown.

She clicked over in her pumps and smiled at the boy, she was kind, he immediately decided.

“My name is Belle,”she said. “You must be Carlos”

He nodded.

“Where is your mother?”she asked furrowing her brows. “I expected her to be here”

“She died”he said as solemnly as possible. “My cousin Diego is my only living relative, he’s over eighteen”

“What about his parents?”she asked with a raised brow.

“Dead.”Diego said, and it wasn’t a lie. “Sickness spreads fast around here, when they got sick they sent me to live with Carlos so I didn’t catch it”

“How long ago was this?”Queen Belle asked, her eyes softened.

“Over ten years ago ma’am”he said stiffly.

“I’m sorry for your loss”she said quietly.

“Yeah I bet you are,”he said bitterly. “...my parents were good people, nothing like Cruella”

Belle looked to Ben and they both shared a look.

“We...we can only take these four, it was hard enough convincing the King-“she started.

“I’m not looking to get off the isle”he said. “But please, take Carlos. He’s far too smart to be damned here like the rest of us”

Queen Belle nodded.

"We'll keep him safe in Auradon"She said. "Queens honor"

* * *

The four couldn’t contain their excitement as they ran back to the hideout. They had managed to slink away from their parents and bolted. Mal smiled as she raised her hands above her head and cheered, soon she’ll actually feel the sun on her skin. Carlos wanted to remind her that they weren’t in the clear yet but he couldn’t help but smile, he’d never seen Mal so happy. The four ran past the shop and Carlos felt alive. Queen Belle said she’d return in a week so they’d better have their things packed.

_ I could pack my things in five minutes,  _ he thought bitterly.

He quickly shook his head, there was no time for bitterness. The group reached the river and followed it upward until the abandoned building was in sight. Practically trampling each other on the way inside Carlos couldn’t help the giddy laughter that bubbled past his lips. He flopped down on the worn couch with a groan and couldn’t for the life of him stop laughing. That’s until the laughing turned to tears and it was getting harder to breathe.

“Carlos?”Evie said eyeing the boy. He let out a gasp and wiped his eyes in a frenzy, his heart was beating so fast he felt as if it’d stop.

“Carlos! Hey!”Evie said running over to him. “Deep breaths”

He suddenly remembered he had the capacity to do that and coughed taking it in greedily.

“What was that?”She asked once he had calmed down.

“I...I don’t know”He said. He’d never experienced anything like that before.

“How about you just take it easy?”She said. “Can’t have you croaking before we get to Auradon”   
Right, Auradon. This was supposed to be a celebration.

“I’ll be fine Evie”He waved off. She narrowed her eyes at him and nodded.

“I think this celebration calls for some booze!”Mal said holding up a bottle.

“Pirates rum”Carlos said in awe. “Where’d you get that?”

“I keep a bottle on me for moments like this”She smiled. “C, you’re the one who’s getting us off this dusty rock. Do you want to make the toast?”

He smiled and gratefully accepted the bottle. Using the hem of his shirt he untwisted the lid carefully, he didn’t want to waste a drop.

“To the good times we shared, and the even worse ones we managed to pull through. To the wits of Mal, the caring of Evie and the strength of Jay. I wouldn’t have been able to get this far without you guys. Finally to getting the fuck off the isle and the burning hell hall!”He exclaimed thrusting the bottle into the air. When the cheers subsided he took a long hard swig and immediately felt it warm up his forever cold body.

“To being evil but keeping it good”He passed the bottle to Mal who tipped her head back and smiled.

“To Carlos and his nerdy ass diplomacy”She passed the bottle to Evie who surprisingly took a long graceful sip savouring the flavor.

“To Carlos and all of his hard work”She passed the bottle to Jay who would never admit the speech made him misty eyed.

“To Carlos...for seeing the good in me even though I don't see it myself”He held the bottle with one hand and patted Carlos on the back with the other. “You did good C”

“Oh shut up and drink!”Mal groaned. Jay flipped her the bird and grimaced at the taste, pirates just loved sweet alcohol. The four drank until the bottle was done and their faces were flushed pink.

“To getting off the isle!”Mal slurred raising the now empty glass. The other hollered in response, Carlos was dizzy on his feet and laughing at something that happened nearly thirty minutes ago. Jay smiled and pulled the smaller boy into his lap wrapping his arms around him.

“Huh?”Carlos inquired.

“Want you close”Jay slurred. “Can’t have my boy genius getting away”

Carlos nodded along and leaned back against Jays chest, his eyes felt heavy but he was forcing them open. He didn’t want to miss anything or worse, let his guard down.

“Your tired”Jay slurred with a giggle.

“N-no”Carlos huffed.

“Is okay, go sleep”Jay said. “I’ll protect you”

Carlos’ body felt warm but he decided to blame it on the alcohol.

“Don’t wanna miss anything”He said. “Girls are still...still partying”

“Is okay”Jay repeated, his lips were dangerously close to Carlos neck. “We can-” he hiccuped. “We can celbrate all week, you deserve it!”He declared.

“Stop it”Carlos mumbled.

“No”Jay said almost too serious for the amount of alcohol in his body. “You deserve...like everything!”

“shhh”Carlos hushed. “I think we should both go to bed”

Jay nodded with a huffed goodnight and practically blacked out under the smaller boy. He tried to wiggle out of the thieves grasp but Jays grip had always been solid. He looked towards the girls who seemed to be in their own little world, this couldn’t be too dangerous. He shifted to get comfortable which earned him and even stronger grip around his torso. If anyone one of his bullies could see him they’d laugh, he was being treated like a human teddy bear.

* * *

Six days had passed and the four were scrambling to collect their belongings. Carlos had gotten everything packed days before so he was acting as damage control. He was starting to see the way the isle affected them in little things.

“Evie you can’t bring the whole mattress”He sighed.

“But I need it”she said. “What if...what if we don’t get beds in Auradon? I need to be sure”She said.

Or how he had tried to reason with Jay that he didn’t need the endless junk and scraps of shiny things he kept in his pockets.

“No way”Jay huffed. “We don’t know how Auradon works, what if I need to barter?”

Or when Mal refused to part with her spellbook.

“I don’t plan on using it!”She exclaimed. “It’s for safety”

He was tired and just let it slide, at that point it was like talking to a brick wall. He nodded along and roped the group in leading them to the shoreline. They were probably early and it wasn’t a good idea to sit perched with all of their belongings but all care was thrown out of the window. They just wanted to get on that ship and get the hell off the isle.

“When is it coming?”Mal whined after a while. “I’m tired of looking at this place”

“It should be coming right…”Carlos said squinting towards the horizon. “Now”

They waited in anticipation for the ship to dock, Carlos was shaking. Jay slipped a familiar arm around him and he leaned into the touch shutting his eyes. 

“Come on!”Queen Belle cheered from the top of the stairs.

They didn’t need to be told twice. The four ran over and walked onto the huge ship marvelling at the beauty of it. Jay ran over to the side and looked at the word  _ Lumiere _ spelled out in cursive, he didn’t really pay attention in his language courses but he guessed it was French. With a clear and conscious mind he raised his middle finger to his Father and the other one to the isle that was slowly fading away into the distance.

“Suck it Isle!”he shouted. “I’m going to Auradon!”

“Jay!”Carlos scolded pulling him by his vest. “We haven’t left the isle yet!”

“Who cares!”Jay laughs. “We’re on the boat and they can’t hurt us anymore, C!”

And Carlos smiled, a real one. This was the first time he’d seen such genuine joy on the thief's face, it was a good look on him. Before he could think about it Mal came barreling around the corner and hoisted him into the air.

“You did it spots!”she cried out. “You really did it!”

Carlos squirmed in her grasp but couldn’t help the giggle that slid past his lips, he did it. 

“Group hug for the pup!”Jay cheered.

“Oh come on guys no no no!-”

It was too late, he was being crushed between Jay’s strong chest and Mal’s breasts. He sputtered and gasped for air but they weren’t letting him up anytime soon.

“Guys!”Evie squealed.

_ My saviour _ he thought

“This boat has rooms!”She said. “We each get our own, come on!”

The four ran after her around the bow and down a set of stairs, it was undeniably cool down here in comparison to outside.

“Fascinating”Carlos said quietly looking around.

“Carlos look! We have beds! Not just mattresses but whole entire beds!”She cried. “If I knew we go this when we left the isle then I would’ve wrote to the king myself!”

He slapped on a smile and gave her a thumbs up, the whole thing was overwhelming and just...too easy. How could his life change like this in a day? He pushed the door to his room opened and looked around, he didn’t know the name of half the things in there. The bed was huge and there was some black box sitting on...a table? It looked like a table but he couldn’t be too sure. He took a careful seat on the bed and waited for the thing to collapse under his weight, huh. He gave a few gentle bounces before getting up and shaking the damned thing, it seemed sturdy enough. He should his head, it was too soft, what if he sank in and suffocated in the middle of the night?

There was a knock on the door and he jumped clasping his hands behind his back.

“It’s me Ben, may I come in?”He asked.

What.

“Sure man, you don’t have to ask,”Carlos said. Ben walked in with a perplexed look.

“Have you never had privacy?”He asked, Carlos shook his head.

“Not a thing on the isle”He waved off. “But you wanted to talk to me?’

“Oh I was just coming in to say that lunch is soon”He said.

Lunch?  
“Oh...alright”Carlos nodded.

“Yeah”Ben said. “It would be nice if you joined us, we’re going to be spending a few days or so on the ship so i’d like to mingle with everyone”

“Alright”Carlos said.

“Good talk”Ben said patting his back and leaving the room. Carlos groaned and flopped onto the bed, was everyone in Auradon going to act this weird around him. The door flung wide open and just as Carlos was going to mouth off about his newfound ‘privacy’ he stopped. It was Jay and either his mood had done a complete 180 or he had been faking it the entire time.

“This is fucking weird!”He hissed closing the door behind him.

“So i’m not the only one,”he said.

“Guess what I found in the closet of my room”He said.

Carlos raised a brow in interest.

“Clothes! In my size! How do they know this?”he demanded.

“Jay I don’t know-”

“And guess what else I found?”He asked.

“Go on”Carlos drawled.

“A bathroom! And it had hot water!”He exclaimed. “I don’t know what kind of technology Auradon has but it’s weird”

“And why are you mad about it?”Carlos chuckled. “Not even twenty minutes ago you were giving a big fuck you to the isle”

“Yeah but on the isle at least I know where I stand”He said. “This...this isn’t where I belong, I wanna go back”

“Jay you can’t be serious-”

“Carlos I want to go back!”he exclaimed. “Tell ben to take me back or I-I'm jumping overboard and swimming back-”

“Jay just calm down!”Carlos said and gripped the boys shoulders. “Take a minute and breathe”

“I don’t belong here”Jay repeated. “Ben knocked on my door and told me lunch would be ready soon. What even is a lunch?”

“Lunch is a meal eaten in the middle of the day,”Carlos said.

“You see? Exactly, they’ve got names for their meals here? Why not just call it food?”He groaned.

“Because in Auradon you eat more than once a day”He said.

“I want to go home”Jay said.

“Jay please”Carlos pleaded. “I get it’s new but we haven’t even got there yet.”

“No”Jay said.

“One week”Carlos bargained. “Stay for one week and if you don’t like it...i’ll have Ben take you home”

“Carlos…”Jay said shaking his head.

“Please Jay...for me?”He whispered. “I’m fucking terrified too, this is new to all of us but you said it yourself. But...if you go home I'm going with you”

“Carlos no”Jay said. “This is where you belong”

“No it’s not!”Carlos chuckled shaking away the tears. “I may be good by isle standards but this is a whole new place, I’m rude by default”

“You’re sweet”Jay said. “You’ll fit right in”

“I’m not always kind”He whispered. “I’ll admit it i’ve done some things, i’ve stolen, i’ve blown things up and I've kicked peoples ass”

“You?”Jay snorted. “Kicking people’s ass? I’d like to see it”

“It was me and my cousin Diego”He said a smiled fondly. “They used to call us the devil boys”

“When did you stop?”He asked.

“Maybe about a year I met you guys,why?”He asked.

“Are you the ones who-”

“Threw a fire bomb into Gaston’s house?”Carlos smirked.

“That was you!”Jay howled. “Oh my evil, I need to tell-”

“Hey!”Carlos barked. “What I tell you, you tell no one else”

“Got it”He said. “Besides, that’s hot”

Carlos felt himself blush and thumped the back of Jays head. “Whatever man”

“God, what else did you guys do?”He asked.

“I’ll tell you more if you don’t leave”He said quickly.

“If I do leave I can just find Diego and ask him,”Jay said.

“You’ll never find Diego, he’s in hiding”Carlos said.

“From who?”Jay asked.

“Cruella”

Before he could press further the door was flung open once again.

“Guys, it’s time for lunch!”Mal called and ran down the hall.

Lunch was awkward to put it lightly. The usually rambunctious group was quiet as they stared down at the food in front of him, they’ve never had vegetables and the salad was a little too green for their palettes.

“Is there something wrong?”Queen Belle asked. 

“No no!”Carlos ensured. “We’ve just never had this before”

“Salad?”Ben asked tilting his head. The Queen pinched him under the table and he winced.

“What are you guys used to eating?”She asked. “Evelynne I haven’t heard much from you”

“Um it’s just Evie your highness”she said quietly

“My mistake Evie”Queen Belle said kindly.

“What we usually ate was bread”She said.

“And booze”jay said under his breath.

“What was that Jayden?”She asked. 

He clenched his jaw and took a deep breath. “Jay.”

“I’m so sorry”she sighed. “Can we please go around the table and say our preferred names?”

“Carlos”

“Mal”

“Evie”

“Jay”

“Ben”

“And in private you may all call me Belle”She said. “Of course except for Ben”

He sighed.

“Was bread all that you ate?”She asked.

“Sometimes fruit if it hadn’t gone bad by the time it got to us,”Mal said. “Meat isn’t really common either but we did have spices so we usually had bread and broth, if we could afford it”

“Then we’ll eat bread”The Queen smiled. They nodded and gratefully pushed their plates away from them.

Even after the bread was brought out Carlos still picked at his food, it was undeniably the best bread he’s ever seen but he couldn’t bring himself to eat it. Jay poked his side and he jumped.

“What’s wrong pup?”Jay asked in a hushed tone.

“ ‘m not hungry”He mumbled. He wasn’t accustomed to eating so early in the day.

“Are you sure?”Jay asked.

Carlos nodded.

“Excuse me”he mumbled and pushed his seat out from the table. Queen Belle may have said something but he quickly walked away. This place was like a labyrinth it was all one floor but it took him more than five minutes to find his way back to his room. He looked at the bed and grabbed a pillow opting to lay on the floor instead. The plush carpeting was even too much for him, he wanted to rip it up and just sleep on the floor.

“C”Jay said. “What the hell was that back there?”

“Nothing Jay”Carlos said. “I’m just tired, leave me alone”

“Nah, I don’t think I will”he said and closed the door. “Tell me what’s wrong”

“Nothing”Carlos huffed.

Jay chuckled and took a seat on the floor next to him. “I keep telling you, you’re a horrible liar”

“Burn”He mumbled rolling over onto his face.

“I won’t leave until you start talking”Jay said.

“Then don’t”It was meant to come off as snarky but it was a plead more than anything.

The air in the room thickened and Carlos held back a groan.

“Arlight”Jay said evenly. “I won’t”

Carlos was silent as he listened to the muted waves crash against the side of the ship.

“We can...we can do the touch thing that you and Evie do”Jay suggested after a while. “Only if you want though!”

“Yeah....”Carlos breathed. “We can definitely do that”

“Come”Jay said opening his arms. Carlos wordlessly clambered into Jays lap laying his head in the crook of his neck. The thief sucked in a sharp breath, he’s not sure what he expected but he didn’t expect this. It felt  _ nice _ , he never felt this way when he hugged Mal or Evie, never felt this way with the girls he slept with on the isle.

“Calm down”Carlos mumbled. “I can feel your heart beating”   
Great now he was embarrassed.

“Shut up”Jay groaned. Carlos laughed and nuzzled into Jays neck. He felt his stomach drop and his heart leap at the same time.

“You can hug me too”Carlos said. “That's kinda what cuddling is”

Cuddling. What a stupid word for such an amazing feeling.

Jay tentatively wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and he smiled. He thought this, this  _ cuddling _ thing couldn’t get any better, but he was wrong. He was humming, a tune lost to time vibrated against his chords and he closed his eyes getting lost in the feeling. It felt familiar despite never doing it, it felt right.

“What song is that?”Carlos whispered. His own eyes were shut and he was growing drowsy listening to the beating of Jays heart.

“Old song from Agrabah”Jay said quietly. “My...someone very special used to sing it to me when I was a kid...it’s been so long I can’t even remember the words”

“It’s beautiful”the smaller boy whispered.

“Yeah”Jay said softly. “The person who sang it was too”

Carlos nodded and rubbed at his eyes, he was exhausted.

“Get some rest C, you deserve it”Jay said.

“I can’t…”Carlos grumbled. “Nightmares...every time I close my eyes...Cruella”

“Then I'll keep watch”Jay said. “I don’t know how much better that will make things but i’ll make sure Cruella doesn’t come near you”

“Can’t fix this Jay”He chuckled. “But thanks...hum more, it helps”

“Yeah”Jay said softly. “Of course”

He continued humming until his throat hurt but if it kept Carlos asleep he would do it. His mind trailed off to the isle and he heard Jafar's voice in his head.

_ Do not get close to people, they weaken you _ it sneered.

He had done a fairly good until he met Carlos, his resolve fell faster than he could build it back up. He looked at the sleeping boy in his lap and sighed.

“Fuck”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying the book so far and comments are well appreciated!

Dawn seeped through the porthole window. The sunlight drenched Carlos’ face and he groaned trying to twist the other way, it was so bright. After a few unsuccessful attempts at rolling over he squinted an eye open, he saw strong arms wrapped around his waist. Memories of the previous night flooded back, he smiled. Although being half asleep he recognized Jay had a nice voice, it was smooth and sweet, like honey. The more his mind raced so did his heart, things didn’t feel the same after last night, things hadn’t felt the same in a long time. His body betrayed him and he yawned, stretching his arms up and over his head.

“Mmph”jay groaned and managed to wrap his arms even tighter around the small boy.

_ Well _ , carlos thought. _ Guess i’m not getting up anytime soon. _

He could stay like this a little longer. It wasn’t a crime to enjoy a cuddle, at least not here. Letting his eyes shut once again, he buried his face into the brunets chest and let his heartbeat lull him back to sleep.

* * *

“Jay”Carlos grumbled, it was much later in the morning and he needed to pee. “Get up”

“Mmmm no”Jay mumbled. “ ‘m comfy”

“Jay come on I gotta pee!”Carlos said now squirming.

“no”Jay mumbled. “Pee later”

“That’s not really an option man, let go”He said. Jay whined and opened his arms rolling over face first on the carpet.

“So fucking stubborn”Carlos grumbled walking to the bathroom.

After finishing his business he washed his hands and walked back into the bedroom, Jay was fast asleep on the ground. Carlos shook his head with a chuckle and knelt down next to him.

“Jay”He cooed softly. “Wake up”

“Noooo!”Jay groaned. “ ‘m tired!”

“It’s time for breakfast, aren’t you hungry?”He asked.

Ben came in about twenty minutes prior to tell them, Carlos passed but remembered that Jay needed to eat. Jay stayed silent before rolling back over slapping a hand over his face.

“Too bright!”he whined kicking his legs out.

“Alright alright you fucking baby”Carlos said and pulled down the blind. “Is that better?”

Jay nodded and hesitantly removed his hand from his face, Carlos couldn’t blame him. Everything about this place was obnoxiously bright.

“Now get up and let’s go”Carlos said.

Jay huffed and pushed himself up. “Since when were you bossy?”

“Since you decided to act like a toddler, let’s go”He said already walking out of the room. Jay pulled his beanie on and followed. 

The two wandered around each room until they finally stumbled into the dining room. Mal,Evie,Ben and Queen Belle were sat at the tables with weird circles on their plate.

“Guys you have got to try this!”Evie squealed. “They’re called pancakes and they’re sooo good! Especially with the...the…”

“Syrup?”Ben supplied.

“Yes, that!”

Queen Belle chuckled at her excitement. “Good morning boys”  
“Good morning”Carlos said politely.

“Morning”Jay said taking a seat.

“Before we start our day I just want to say how happy I am that you’re here with us, and I want to apologize on behalf of my husband and all of Auradon. We can be a bit narrow minded at times when it comes to things we don’t understand”She said.

The four squirmed, they were just getting used to simple apologies. This long winded one made them uncomfortable at the very least. Carlos and Evie were flushed an unfortunate shade of red while Mal and Jay clenched at the table cloth. The mood in the room must have went unnoticed by the Queen because she continued on with the rest of her announcements.

“We will be in Auradon by tomorrow morning and before the day is through please come meet with me about your dynamic. I will be needing to know this to properly sort you into the right dorms for school”

“Dynamic?”Mal whispered.

“School?”Jay said, a piece of panic falling out of his mouth.

“What do you mean by ‘dynamic’?”Carlos asked carefully. He had the slightest inkling of what she was talking about but it made his heart race nonetheless.

“Your dynamic”She repeated. “Dominants? Submissives? Neutrals? Surely you’ve been taught this in school, or by your parents”  
Jays jaw clenched at the thought of his father, Carlos placed a hand on his knee.

“No ma’am, we haven’t. But I have done my own research on the topic”He said.

“How do you know without being taught?”Queen Belle inquired.

“Cr-Mother”He choked out ignoring the strange look. “Had these old books from before the barrier was up. It was Auradon research on the biological aspect of Dominants and Submissives. I-I was fascinated by it and did my own research but I never knew it was real…”

“Wait so you’re telling me your dom sub bullshit is real!”Jay exclaimed. He ignored Queen Belle’s disapproving look. “Carlos you really are a genius!”  
“So that means we…”Evie trailed off. “We all have dynamics too? Why hasn’t anyone told us about this?”

“Because isle schools are shit and our parents are no better”Mal grumbled.

“I would like to see this research of yours Carlos”Queen Belle stated. “It would be nice to get an inside glimpse into how dynamics work on the isle”

“I would be more than happy to share them with you your highness”He said bowing his head slightly.

“You can call me Belle, I don’t mind”She said kindly.

“Still doesn’t feel right”He said shyly.

“If all this shit is real then what are we?”Jay said crossing his arms.

“We don’t know yet and please, keep your profanity to a minimum,”Ben said. “ I think you should show a little bit more respect”

“Earn it”Jay glared. Ben returned the glare and Queen Belle cleared her throat.

“You’re entering my kingdom”Ben said.

“I don’t care”Jay huffed.

“Well I guess we’ve already got one figured out, congratulations Jay. You appear to be a dominant”She chuckled. “Please excuse my son he’s not used to sharing his territory”

“Territory?”Carlos whispered. “Fascinating”

“Tell your _ son _ to stop demanding things, I don’t take orders”Jay said.

“How about you tell me yourself?”Ben said cooly crossing his arms.

“How about you both quit it?”Mal said. “Your petty little fight doesn’t need to happen in the presence of my pancakes”

“Mind yourself”Ben snapped. He expected her to recoil but she sat up straight and stared him down.

“If you thought Jay was bad I’m a lot worse, don’t test your luck”She said.

“And another one”Queen Belle said taking a mental note.

Ben faltered under her gaze. “I’m sorry, I must have mistaken you for a neutral”

“Don’t do it again”She said.

Evie and Carlos stayed silent watching the exchange. The room was silent.

“Well it won’t be positive until you all take the test but I'm guessing we have three dominants on one ship, just my luck”Queen Belle said with a weary smile. “Ben I think you need to take a walk”

“But I don't-”

“Take a walk.”She said firmly. He sat up from the table and glared at Jay on his way out the door. “It’s common for hormonal imbalances in the dynamics during their teenage years, I can assure you he is not always like this”

“I hope not”Mal huffed. “On the isle we call that being a brat”

Jay hadn’t spoken again and instead gripped the table cloth tighter. The idea of punching Ben’s lights out was becoming more and more appealing.

“Jay”Carlos whispered. “You wanna take your pancakes to go? We can go sit in my room”

The tension soon melted from his furrowed brows and he let go of his grip on the table. “Yeah”

“You go ahead of me, I'll be right there”

Jay grunted and got up from the table wordlessly walking down the hall.

“Ma’am may I speak to you...alone?”He asked.

“Of course”Queen Belle said. “Girls if you’ll excuse us”  
The two walked out into the hallway and Carlos vomited up every growing concern he had since the ball dropped.

“Are you sure Jay is a dominant? I mean in my research it stated that dominants are usually level headed leaders and Jay...he...”He tried to find the right word. “He tends to be Irritable a-and lash out”

She laughed. “I can’t be sure until he takes the test but from his body language and the way he acts, he’s a dominant if i’ve ever seen one. The same goes for your friend Mal, she’s just not experiencing the moodiness”

“Is this how dominants really act?”He asked.

“You can only excuse their ill tempers to puberty”She said. “In this time they’re growing up and the urge to control and protect only strengthen at this age. Has Jay always been protective?”

_ “What the fuck Carlos!”Jay said pulling the boy out of the river. _

_ “I was taking a swim!”Carlos huffed. _

_ “In the-In the riptides!”Jay squaked. “You know it’s too dangerous at this time of day!” _

_ “I came earlier but I lost track of time. I could’ve gotten out by myself”He argued, he wouldn’t say it but he was freezing. Jay noticed and wordlessly pulled his tunic over his head handing it to the shivering boy. It was early spring and the morning temperature could’ve been anywhere between below freezing and plain cold. _

_ “Jay-” _

_ “Shut up”He said already walking back towards the hideout. _

“Yeah I guess you could say that”He said, a smile played on his lips.

“It’s all instinct”She said. “Dominant women are usually more susceptible to anger issues if they don’t have a proper outlet for control but it’s not uncommon in men either”

“Suppressed dominance”he said.

“precisely”She said. “Dominants can only hold back natural instinct so long before it starts affecting them emotionally and it worse cases, physically”

“How do you know so much about this?”He marvelled.

“And old friend of mine wrote about it”She winked. “Now I'd get to Jay before he finds Ben”

“Oh my hades!”he groaned and ran down the hall with a cry of thanks over his shoulder.

* * *

“Jay…?”Carlos said pushing the door open. “Are you in here?”

The bathroom door swung open and Jay stalked out pulling Carlos into his arms. “You said you’d be right there. Where were you? Did Ben hurt you?”he asked groping the boy.

“No, quit it that tickles!”He snapped. “Why were you hiding in the bathroom?”

He got a good look at Jay face, and flinched. He’d only seen that look in Jays eyes once and the person who caused it was thrown into pirate territory. 

“I wanna hurt him ‘los”Jay mumbled pulling the boy in. “Trying so hard not to kill him”

The brunet was practically vibrating against him, Carlos pulled away just enough to keep eye contact. His eyes were dazed and his pupils were huge,_ that can’t be good _, Carlos thought.

“Jay what’s wrong? You’re scaring me”He said.

“I dunno”Jay said. “I just don’t like the way he looks at you”

“What?-Jay you’re not acting right, I need to speak to Queen Belle”he said.

“No!”Jay exclaimed holding him tighter. “You’re not leaving me again”

“Jay please I need to speak to Queen Belle, cuddle a pillow”He said slipping out of Jays grip. The ex thief all but growled at the boy booking it for the door. Carlos was fast but this time, Jay was faster. He reached out and picked Carlos up, the boy squeaked and wrapped his legs around the brunets waist.

“Better”Jay said.

“Jay please”He said. “I need to speak with Queen Belle”

“No, you need to stay with me,”Jay said. “It’s not safe with Ben out there”

“You wouldn’t force me to stay, would you?”he breathed.

The word shocked the life back into Jays eyes and he shook his head practically dropping Carlos to the ground.

“Would never force you”jay said, he was shaking his head even harder now. “I’m..I’m..”

“You’re forgiven, just stay in here,”Carlos said and scrambled to the door.

“Carlos!”Evie cried out sprinting down the hall. “We’ve gotta find Belle, Mal is acting strange!’

“Same with Jay”  
They shared a look and Carlos darted up the stairs to the deck.

“Belle!”They both shouted running frantically around the ship. “Belle!”

“What is the matter?”She asked jogging up the stairs from below the deck. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes!”Evie wheezed. “Mal and Jay are acting strange”

“Strange how?”Queen Belle asked.

“I don’t know about Mal but Jay was extremely touchy and almost wouldn’t let me leave the room”He panted. “He had this look in his eyes and said something about Ben being dangerous”

“Same with Mal”Evie said. “I kinda had to knock her out”

“You did what!”Carlos exclaimed.

“I was scared!”Evie shouted, she looked close to tears.

“Easy, easy”Belle soothed. “I was afraid this would happen. When Ada-my mistake, the king, put up the barrier he added in a suppressant of sorts”

“A suppressant?”Carlos asked.

“So the villains didn’t kill each other on the isle. It diminished their need to dominate by about 50%, he thought it would be safer that way. No one thought the children of the villains would be affected as well,”she said.

“And since we’re well outside the barrier…”Carlos trailed off.

“The suppressant is broken”She said. “They must be just as frightened, they’ve never experienced this much need for control before. Tell me, did they um...try and force you into anything?”

Carlos spoke first. “Jay wanted to cuddle but I asked if he would force me and he kinds snapped out of it long enough so I could leave”

She looked like she wanted to say something but nodded. “Evie?”

“Mal kinda um...she pinned me down, nothing happened though. I fought her off and hit her over the head with a plate”She said quietly.

Carlos couldn’t fight the swell of pride in his chest. _ My girl, _he thought.

Belle nodded once again and clasped her hands together.

“I suggest you two share a room for the day, I’ll notify the guards that they need to keep all three of them away from each other,”She said.

“All three? Jay and Mal wouldn’t hurt each other”Carlos said.

“In times like this it’s best to be safe than sorry”She said. “If you feel unsafe at any time please let me know”

“Okay”Carlos said. “Thank you”

* * *

“Jay and Mal wouldn’t hurt us, right?”Evie said laying across the bed. Carlos was kneeling on the floor playing with the rectangle box that controls the black box on the dresser. He stuck his tongue out and poked around at the wires.

“Not intentionally”He said distractedly. Now what happens if he crosses the blue wire with the-

“Maybe Belle is wrong about this...this whole thing, they’re still our friends and they wouldn’t hurt us”She said firmly.

“It could be true that the barrier had suppressants in it”He said. “They have magic in Auradon, it’s not impossible”

“I know it’s just…”She trailed off.

“You can’t wrap your head around Mal hurting you”Carlos supplied. “I get it”

“She’s just always been sweet to me, well...as sweet as she can be”Evie said. “But after today i’m not sure-”  
“Don’t let this change your opinions on her, Queen Belle said it herself. They’re going through some changes right now and it’s just as scary for us as it in for them,”He said. “Evie you know Mal wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, she cares about you”   
“Really?”Evie said. “She said that?”   
“Not really”Carlos said. “But she shows it”

“How?”Evie said.

Carlos put down the rectangular box and stared at her. “If I have to tell you that I'm not telling you”

“Carlos come on!”She whined and threw a pillow at him. He caught it and threw it back just as fast.

“You gotta be quicker than that”He smirked.

“Oh you’re going down De Vil”She said.

“I’d like to see you try _ princess _”He said.

She tossed him a pillow and they stood on opposite sides of the room. “This will be a fair fight, no isle tricks”

“Fine”Carlos said. “No isle tricks. Will it be a fight to the death?”  
“Of course”She said. “May the best fighter win”

Before Carlos could raise his pillow there was a knock at the door.

“Yes?”he huffed.

“It’s Ben, may I come in?”

Carlos sighed and opened the door. “Yes?”

There were two guards behind him. “I owe you an apology”

“For?”Evie prompted crossing her arms.

“For losing my cool during breakfast”He said rubbing the back of his neck. “I can have quite the temper sometimes, I’m sorry you had to witness the worst of me”

“What you did was pretty shitty but I accept your apology”Evie said.

“We all have bad days sometimes”Carlos shrugged. “Even princes”

Ben smiled. “Thank you for understanding”

He turned around and the guards followed suit back down the hall.

“He should be apologizing to Jay and Mal”Evie grumbled.

“Yeah but we’re a good start,”Carlos said. “And besides, they can’t even be in the same room together-”

“We need back up!”A voice shouted.

They both looked at each other and ran down the hall.

* * *

“I told you stay away from him!”Jay shouted kicking his legs. Two guards had his arms pinned behind his back but he was overpowering them quickly.

“Jay stand down, I don’t want to fight you”Ben said calmly.

Stand down.

Stand down.

_ “Jayden stand down”Jafar said cooly. “You wouldn’t want to get embarrassed in front of your company” _

_ “No!”Jay shouted taking a step forward. “I will not stand down father, i’m tired of standing-” _

_ Smack. _

“Jay no!”Carlos shouted trying to push past a guard. “Stop!”

_ “Foolish boy” _

“Jay!”Carlos pleaded. “Please!”  
“Get the prince to the infirmary!”A guard shouted. “Now!”

_ “incompetent” _

“What have you done!”Queen Belle shouted running down the stairs. “Jay? Jay, answer me!”

_ “Don’t speak i’m angry enough with you” _

She was right next to him, worry in her eyes. “Jay? Are you alright?”

_ “Jayden I do not appreciate being kept waiting” _

His hands were wet, he dropped to his knees. 

“I’m sorry father”he whispered. “I’m so sorry”

He stared at the ground with dazed eyes. Carlos ducked under the guard and ran straight for Jay dropping to his knees in front of him.

“Jay? Jay!”He said shaking his shoulders. “Hey! It’s me, Carlos. Your father isn’t here, that was Ben. It was just Ben”  
“Ben?”Jay whispered. He could’ve sworn he’d seen his father just seconds ago.

“Yes”Carlos nodded cupping his face. “It was just Ben, keep your eyes on me”

After a few seconds Jay looked up.

“Yeah, you’re doing good”Carlos chuckled, he felt a tear slide down his face. “You’re doing so good, just keep looking at me”

A few minutes passed and Jay reached up and gripped the boy's shoulder. “Carlos?”

“Oh thank hades”Carlos whispered. “You fucking scared me you big idiot”

“What just happened?”Jay asked. “What did I do?”

Carlos looked to Queen Belle who’s gaze seemed far away as she approached the two.

“Jay what did Jafar do to you?”She asked carefully. “I need to know so I can help you”

Not even sparing her a glance he turned to Carlos.

“How does she know about my dad?”He demanded. “Carlos did you-”

“You had a meltdown Jay, Ben said something to you and you went ballistic on him. You thought he was Jafar”Carlos said.

“I did what?”He asked. “Carlos, I hurt him?”

He nodded. Jay looked at his hands which were covered in blood, he felt sick.

“You didn’t do anything too bad”Carlos assured. “You just gave him a few good shots to the nose, that's why you’ve got blood on you”

“I’m sorry”Jay said looking up at the Queen. “I’m so sorry, I’ll fix it-”

“There’s no need to”She said. “Ben may be my son but he’s a tough boy, he’ll pull through. It’s you i’m worried about”

“Don’t waste your time worrying about me”He said shaking his head. “I didn’t have it that bad”

“Whatever Ben said triggered a traumatic experience Jay, I have the right to be worried. It’s best to know what triggers these now so we don’t have to find out the hard way”She said.

“I really appreciate the concern but I'm okay, I'm still really sorry about what I did to Ben”He said.

“Consider it forgotten”She said. “But if I hear anything like that happening again you will tell me, do I have your word?”

“Carlos as my witness, you have my word”Jay said.

“Good”She said curtly. “I’ll be in the infirmary”

She walked down the hall.

“I guess beating the crap out of Ben helped take the edge off”Carlos said. “You’re acting like yourself”

Jay stayed silent and pulled his knees up to his chest. “I really thought Jafar was here?”

“Yeah”Carlos said softly. “You did”

“I thought you would be the one to go crazy first”He chuckled. “Not me”

“Cruella still bothers me but I know my triggers”He said.

“I don’t know why i’m acting like this,”Jay said. “You had it way worse”

“Jay I haven’t seen Cruella in two years, you saw Jafar a few days ago”He said. “I got away from my evil, you didn’t”  
“Yeah but i’m away from him now,”Jay said. “Why is he still in my head?”   
“I don’t have all the answers,”He said. “But maybe Queen Belle is right about asking for help”   
“I don’t need help, i’m okay”Jay said.

“Jay no you’re not, oh my hades”Carlos laughed running a hand through his hair. “You said sorry over five times today, you hate that word! I know you hate it cause of Jafar”  
“Since when did you have a behind the screen subscription to my life?”He said with narrowed eyes.

“I keep telling you guys, I see a lot more than you think I do”Carlos said rolling his eyes. “I just think it wouldn’t hurt to try”  
“You think just cause we’re going to Auradon i’m just going to change who I am?”He fumed.

“No that’s not what I think at all”Carlos said patiently.

“I’m still Jay”He said.

“You’re still Jay”Carlos said patiently. The boy huffed and dug his nails into his palms.

“Nothing's making sense anymore...I don’t understand”He said. “On the isle everything was so simple…”

“Hey”Carlos said touching his shoulder. “Things don’t have to make sense right now, today’s been a long day. I think the best thing we can do is sleep”

“When did you grow up?”Jay asked staring at him for a few seconds. “You’re not the same little boy I threw back to Cruella”

“I was never a little boy”He huffed.

“You look so much older now, you’ve gotten taller too,”Jay said. “How did I not notice any of this?”

“Because it’s not important, let’s go”He said.

“Carlos...how old are you?”Jay asked. 

Carlos stiffened. “What difference does it make? I’m still Carlos, goodnight Jay”

“You know how old I am, I don’t think it’s fair-”

“Goodnight Jay”Carlos said firmly. He didn’t even bother to spare Jay a second glance as he climbed to his feet and walked down the hall. He was angry, Jay knew it. He used the same tone he did almost two years ago asking him to leave Hell Hall. The ex thief sighed and pulled at the loose thread of the carpet.

“Nothing makes sense”He whispered.

* * *

_ Knock _ . _ Knock _.

“Evie?”Carlos called. “It’s me Carlos, please let me in”  
The door opened and he was pulled inside with such a force he hit the bed. He groaned as Evie shut and locked the door, she looked different. She had on Auradon pajamas and her hair was tied up away from face, she looked beautiful.

“What is it Carlos?”She said. “You look upset? Did Jay do something?”

“Yes”He sighed flopping down on the too soft bed. “I-I don’t know, he asked me something private and I don’t think I'm ready to answer him”

“What did he ask?”Evie said taking a seat next to him.

“My age”Carlos said.

“C, he still doesn’t know?”She said softly. “I thought you’d tell him by now, you two are close”  
He glared at her. “I don’t want him to think any differently of me”   
“Why would he do that?”She asked.

“Because I've always been so sure of myself, he looks at me like i’ve got the answers to everything, like i’m the one who put the stars in the sky. What if this makes him think less of me?”He worried. “What if it discredits everything I've worked so hard for? I seem to know everything but I don’t know my fucking age”

He let out a self deprecating chuckle and for the second time that night felt tears sting at his eyes, this move was making him soft.

“Carlos you’re a genius”She said. “Nothing can change that about you, you’ve got a gift-”

“It’s no gift”He waved off. “But thank you anyways”

“One day you’re going to see how great you really are”She said shaking her head. “Was that it or is there something more? You still look really upset”

“Evie I…”He trailed off. “I don’t know, it’s late and I'm tired”

“Okay”She said. “Do you wanna bunk with me like Belle said or go back to your own room?”  
He thought of Jay who was undeniably sulking in front of his door like a lost puppy and frowned.

“I think I'll stay here tonight”he said.

“Scooch over”She said. “It’ll be just like old times”  
“Yeah”He said softly. “Like old times”

* * *

He slept fitfully that night, kicking off the blankets more times than Evie could count. She groaned and rubbed her eyes checking the time, 2:00am. Something had to give, she placed the blankets over Carlos one last time. If he kicked them off within five minutes she was getting Jay. The gentle ticking of the clock almost lulled her back to sleep before the cold air in the room surrounded her once again, he kicked off the damn blankets.

“That’s it”She grumbled. She rolled out of bed and opened the door quietly slinking down the hall. Not even the guards could hear the mastered silence of her footsteps, years of tiptoeing around mother at night came in handy. She reached Jays room and didn’t even bother to knock before barging right in, the lights were on, and he was awake.

“Yes?”he grumbled.

“Come get your boyfriend, he won’t stop kicking the damn blankets off”She huffed.

“He’s not my boyfriend”Jay muttered but rose to his feet nonetheless. “He’s been in your room?”  
“Yeah, you pissed him off”She said. “Don’t even ask me about it”

He sucked his teeth and followed her back down the hall not bothering to tread lightly, guards be damned. Carlos had found his way to the floor and he was shaking violently, little whimpers exited his lips and he brought his knees as close as he could to his chest. Jay felt a rumble in his chest and wordlessly picked up the smaller boy cradling him to his chest, it was disgustingly intimate, especially in front of Evie.

“Stop shaking”He grumbled trying to keep his edge. Evie simply rolled her eyes and shooed them both out of her room. Carlos had indeed stopped shaking, almost as if he’d taken the order in his sleep. Jay went to dump him in his own room but decided against, Carlos never slept well on his own. He crossed the hall and shut the door behind him turning off the light, now that he had the boy in his arms sleep seemed more like a possibility. Although the speckled boy was far from conscious Jay found himself humming that same lullaby, he wasn’t sure if Carlos liked it but it eased his own mind just the same.

He pulled the pillow and blanket off the bed adjusting it on the floor, Carlos never liked the beds. They were too soft, Jay couldn’t agree more. He let the boy burying his face into his chest and wrapped his arms around him.

_ This is where you belong, _ he found himself thinking. _ Right here with me. _

That notion brought out of the depths of his memory another lullaby, one he could recite in his sleep.

“Come stop your crying It will be alright...”He sang softly “...For one so small, you seem so strong”

He chuckled as the boy shifted in his sleep, an almost protest to his petiteness.

“My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm…”

In that moment he knew he didn’t want a princess, he didn’t want love, he didn’t want marriage and screw the throne of Agrabah. Everything he wanted, everything he ever craved was in his arms at this very moment. Time stood still, the thumping of his heart drowned out the ticking of the clock.

“I’m fucked”He said fondly, though terror retched at his stomach in waves.

“I’m completely fucked”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important note at the end.

Carlos had woken up alone. To his knowledge this wasn’t his room, but all the rooms looked the same so he couldn’t be sure. One thing he was sure of was that his back hurt and his stomach was aching, when did he last eat? The simple answer would be yesterday, he had barely sat down at the table before Jay was shoving bites of pancakes into his mouth, how much of that remained in his stomach was a mystery. He didn’t have time to eat with the chaos that went on yesterday, no one did. He stretched and cracked his back, he’d eat later, or whenever Jay forced him to, whichever came first. 

He pulled himself on the bed and jumped when he felt a body. Among the mass of pillows and sheets Jay lay just about stripped with his hair flowing across the pillow. It was getting long, he dully noted, he was due for a trim any day now. Sliding back off the bed he sat criss cross waiting for Jay to wake up, after the events of yesterday he’s had his fill of wandering around alone. He furrowed his eyes suddenly, hadn’t he slept in Evie’s room last night? He wasn’t known for sleepwalking, no, that would’ve gotten him killed years ago. Why was he in Jay’s room? 

Almost as if he could feel the tension the long haired boy began to stir. Carlos held his breath and hoped that this would pass, that Jay would go back to sleep. Jay was indeed still moving, rather frequently now. He let out a groan and fisted the sheets in his hand twisting fitfully, he was having a nightmare. Carlos crawled over the side of the bed and sat powerless, should he shake him? Or would that just make things worse? He sat and watched for a few moments as Jay settled down and ultimately began flopping around violently. The low groan had turned into a growl but his face remained stoic, Carlos could only see the curl of his lip, but as soon as it happened it was gone.

“Jay”He said finally. “Jay, wake up”

To no avail the turmoil going on in his head was louder, no matter how loudly Carlos called for him he didn’t hear. He was lost to his own mind, flashes of purple skies and large almond shaped brown eyes fluttered around, long hair similar to his own was fashioned with jewels, the woman smiled kindly. The moment he reached out to touch her she was gone, someone was calling him but they didn’t matter he needed to find her-

“Jay!”Carlos shouted shaking him rapidly. The boy gasped and sat up looking around the room, the walls were white, everything in here was white. He sighed and closed his eyes letting his heart beat slow down, he was on the ship, on his way to Auradon. He finally realized his lack of shirt and pulled the sheets around him in some display of modesty, Carlos rolled his eyes and sat on the bed next to him.

“Jay what the hell was that?”He asked folding his arms.

“What was what?”Jay asked immediately coughing, his throat felt like sandpaper. Carlos ignored it and narrowed his eyes. “You know what I'm talking about”

“No I honestly don’t”He said.

“Whatever”Carlos brushed off sitting up. “Don’t tell me then”

“Hey you’re allowed to keep secrets, I should be able to too”He said narrowing his eyes.

“My secret is important”Carlos said.

“Yeah and so is mine”He shot back. “If you’re going to leave go”

“I will”Carlos said.

“Good”He said.

No one moved.

Time was lost to the ticking of the clock as the two stared, not quite at each other but somewhere else, Carlos was the first to speak.

“What are we doing?”He asked. “We usually don’t argue like this, it’s not like us”

“I don’t know”Jay shrugged, he slid his legs off the bed and stood up. Carlos had a front row seat to the wide expanse of his chest, Jay was lean but he was muscular. Carlos averted his eyes trying not to stare.

“Maybe things were better on the isle, maybe-”

“Don’t say that”Jay said slipping a tee shirt over his head. “Never say that about the isle”

“We rarely argued there”Carlos said.

“We didn’t have time to”Jay huffed. “I was busy getting my ass kicked in the shop and you were constantly sick”

“But when we were together we didn’t argue”He pressed. “Maybe it was better”   
“We did argue”Jay said. “A few times actually, what’s the matter with you? Are you getting nervous about Auradon?”

“No!”Carlos squeaked. “I just...things are different now, what if they stay different? We’ve only been away from the isle for a few days and you’re already acting different, what if things are different forever?”

“I talked to Belle about why i’m acting different, it’s the suppressor thingy in the barrier right?”He said distractedly.

“Suppressant, and yes I guess you’re right. But what if this is all some ploy? What if there’s something in the air that only affects isle kids? What if it changes you forever? What if this is all some big conspiracy?-”He fretted.

“Hey”Jay said softly, he firmly planted his hands on the boys shoulder. “You’re really freaked out about this, aren’t you?”

Under the firm grip of Jays hands he felt like putty, all he could do was nod and focus on making sure his feet kept him upright. He wasn’t sure how long he was in this trance but he felt a gentle pat to his cheek which promptly ripped him out of the dreamlike state.

“I thought I lost you for a second”Jay teased, but his face remained serious. “Carlos I want you to look at me and tell me what you see”

Carlos weirly brought his eyes up to his best friends face and immediately started calculating every single detail, imperfections and all. He wanted to name everything he saw, every scar, every sun spot, he could even make out the faint freckles that littered his nose, he’d never been close enough to see them before. He stared into the deep eyes, the harsh cheekbones, the wide nose and the pink lips. There were a million words that crossed his mind, a million things he could say, he could fill up an entire book with all the things that made jay up. But that was it exactly, these things made Jay.

“Jay”he whispered, reverently. The finality in his tone seemed to be the right answer because the boy smiled.

“Exactly”Jay said. “No matter what happens in Auradon, whatever changes about me, I’m still Jay”

“You’re still Jay”Carlos whispered stupidly. He couldn’t seem to find his voice, anything above a whisper seemed to harsh for this moment.

“That's right, just like you’re still Carlos”He said. “No matter how old you get, how tall, how smart, you’re still my pup”

Carlos couldn’t even find it within himself to speak, he had so much to say, he wanted to say everything and nothing all at the same time, so he chose nothing. Saying everything might ruin this, he was known for ruining things just from speaking. He nodded and Jay slid an arm around his waist.

“Good. I know it’s early but let’s see if they have breakfast out yet”He said. “I’m starving and I bet you are too”

Carlos just nodded along and relished in Jays touch, had it always felt this nice? On the isle touches were rough and with purpose but here, they seemed to happen instinctively. The brush of an arm, the hand on a shoulder, a handshake. Anything that would have roused a fight on the isle was permitted and even welcome here.

The two walked down the hall together towards the dining room, after a few days it seems Jay had it memorized. Carlos let his brain take a little snooze and trusted Jay to lead him in the right direction. No one was in there but there was bread laid out on the table, little rolls of bread and butter with water.

“A feast for a king”Jay smiled taking a seat.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Queen Belle?”Carlos asked but still sat next to him.

“Why would there be food out if we weren’t supposed to eat?”He already had a roll in his hand and was digging greedily at the butter. Carlos watched and sipped on a glass of water, it looked good, smelled good, wasn’t appealing though. Jay had wolfed down about three rolls before turning to look at the small boy, his back was straight against the chair and he had his knees pulled to his chest.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”He asked. “I mean it’s free food, no one’s going to take it from you”

“Can never be too sure,”Carlos said. “What if it’s poisoned?”

Jay pretended to choke and Carlos rolled his eyes and roughly whacked the back of his head.

“Ow”Jay grumbled, “Can’t a man have fun?”   
Carlos didn’t answer and grabbed the pitcher pouring another cup of water, it was especially crisp.

“Carlos what the hell?”Jay said. “You’re really not going to eat?”

“I ate last night”He waved off, “It was really filling, i’m just thirsty”   
“When?”Jay said narrowing his eyes. “You didn’t have a lot of downtime last night”   
“Before I went to Evie’s room”He lied easily. “I had a bowl of cereal”   
“What kind of cereal?”Jay pressed, eyes narrowing further. “Tell me the name”   
“I don’t know!”Carlos snapped. “We don’t get cereal on the isle, why would I remember a name?”

“Because you remember everything”Jay said.

“It wasn’t important”He shot back. “You think i’m lying don’t you?”

“It’s hard not to when I was with you most of last night,”Jay said.

“I told you I got it before I went to Evie’s room”He insisted. “It was a small bowl, didn’t take me long to finish”

“Then if it was a small bowl, how are you full?”He asked, growing agitated at Carlos’ silence. “Oh no don’t stop now, you seemed to have all the answers earlier. Tell me”

Silence.

“Tell me”Jay demanded, his voice was firm bordering on ice.

“It’s none of your business”Carlos said switching the narrative.

“Oh but it is my business because you’re my business”Jay said. “Why aren’t you eating?”

“Shove it”Carlos grumbled getting up from the table.

“Carlos-”

“Shut up!”He shouted, his voice boomed across the room. It’s like the entire room fell silent, his chest was heaving and panic was creeping up his throat. “Just shut up, i’m fine”   
Jay locked his jaw and nodded his head stiffly. “Okay”

“Okay?”Carlos said.

“Yeah, okay. You’re not my business so I won’t make this a habit”He said.

“jay-”Carlos sighed.

“No, you made your choice”He shrugged. “You don’t want to be my business, I won’t force you to”

No this was not good, the panic was gripping at his larynx and it was hard to make any sound beside a strangled whimper.

“I guess things are different now,”Jay said.

“Jay please”He said.

“I may be Jay but you...you’re not Carlos”Jay said standing up.

“No!”Carlos exclaimed. “No, no Jay I am Carlos! I’m still Carlos!”

“No”He said shaking his head. “Carlos didn’t keep things from me, Carlos didn’t lie to my face about simple shit!”

“I can’t tell you!”Carlos exclaimed.

“Why!”Jay roared, his face was red and his fists were curled at his side. “Why can’t you tell me?”   
“I just can’t”Carlos said. “Jay I would tell you but it doesn’t make sense, nothing makes sense!”

“Then make it make sense!”Jay huffed. “You’re so smart, figure it out”   
“I’ve been trying”he said. “I know you’re hurt but-”   
“Don’t try that shit with me”Jay said raising a hand. “At this point either tell me or don’t, this argument in pointless”

“So arguing with me is pointless?”He was filled with unfathomable anger, something deep inside of him was torched.

“Arguing with Carlos isn’t but you, yeah it’s pointless”Jay said.

“I am Carlos!”He shouted in frustration. “I’m Carlos the same way you’re Jay, i’m still me!”

“No you’re not”Jay shook his head. “But when you screw your head back on come find me”   
That was it, Carlos didn’t even have the time to thrust in one last witty remark before he was alone. The dining room seemed bigger, or maybe he just felt smaller. The fire was still burning inside of him but it was slowly dying down, he felt tired.

“I’m still Carlos”He said to himself.

“I’m...I’m still Carlos”

* * *

The ship docked and the tension was high, there was no build up, no warning. One minute they were steaming ahead and the next everyone’s legs felt like jello as they rushed around grabbing at their few belongings. Carlos clutched at his plastic bag full of notebooks and paraphernalia trying to ignore the hollow feeling in his chest. Where the fire once was there was nothing but ash, regret and ash. He wanted to apologize, to fix things before they entered the kingdom, but he wasn’t sorry and lying to him again would just make things worse. They expected a horse drawn carriage but were met with a limousine instead. Carlos wanted to enjoy it, he watched as the girls chattered on and sipped bubbly cider with a petulant pout on his face. He felt miserable, downright miserable. If feeling colors was a possibility he’d feel like brown, shitty. He sat next to the window watching in muted delight as different variations of castles and cottages whizzed by. They were in Arendelle, at least that’s what Queen Belle had told them. It was a few hours away from Auradon, after a two day ship ride, a few hours felt like a lifetime. His cheek pressed against the window and he flinched rubbing at it with the sleeve of his-well, Ben’s hoodie. The minute they stepped off the ship Carlos was freezing, the thin cotton tee shirt and his leather jacket did nothing to protect him from the breeze. Ben took sympathy on him and tossed him the hoodie not even questioning it, he barely noticed Jays brooding.

“Carlos do you want some?”Evie asked tilting her glass to him. “It’s really yummy”   
“Is it alcoholic?”He asked.

“Of course not”Ben said. “Teens can’t drink in Auradon”

“Then no”He said turning back to the window. He knew he was being a downer in all sense of the word but he couldn’t help just this once to feel sorry for himself. Him and Jay never fought like this, they’ve had heated arguments but they were usually okay, they bounced back. Jay hasn’t even looked at him since this morning. Things would have been better by now if they were still on the isle, they would have come crawling back to each other out of pure need. That wasn’t possible here, everything was provided for them, there was no excuse to speak.

* * *

He must have fallen asleep, he was no longer in the limo but in a bed. He felt around for Ben’s hoodie but his hand was met with harsh leather, it was warm, too warm. He stripped back the quilted blanket and saw the colorful material across his chest, it was Jay's vest. He rolled his eyes and pulled it off over his head setting it next to him, Jay sure did have some nerve. He huffed and rubbed at his arms, they felt sore. Where was he? He seemed to be asking that question a lot lately, he couldn’t seem to catch a break. The room was beautiful, bluebells were painted on the wall, Carlos had never seen one in person. The bed was nice too, not too soft, not too firm, like that one children's book. He chuckled to himself at the shear failure of trying to make a joke about porridge, his poor brain cells weren’t designed for this.

“I’m hilarious”He said swinging his legs over the side of the bed. To his surprise there was hardwood under his feet, good. Carpet was evil. He took a good look around the room, didn’t seem too out of the ordinary. There was a black box on the dresser just like the ship, a bureau,what seemed to be a closet and a mirror. He inched closer to the mirror, he hadn’t gotten a good look at himself in a long time. He was told that mirrors lied, whatever you saw you could’t sure of it. At least that’s what Cruella always said as she tried on her numerous amount of slips from her youth. He inched even closer until his palms were flat on the dresser and he could see every last detail about himself. He was darker than he last remembered, and his freckles had multiplied, some in places he didn’t even think freckles could be. His hair, he knew about that already but was shocked to see it flop in his face, this wouldn’t do. He needed a haircut and he needed one soon, his hair was curly when it was long and mother hated it when his hair was curly. He ran his fingers through it until it flopped into loose waves, this wouldn’t do. If he could just find a pair of scissors he could fix it, he was used to cutting his hair. It made his dark roots all the more visible too, ugly, it was ugly.

He pulled open drawers in a controlled frenzy, he remained calm but his hands were shaking and his heart was racing against his rib cage. He needed to cut it so it wasn’t ugly. Maybe this is why mother didn’t let him look in the mirror, maybe it didn’t lie, it simply showed you the truth. He glanced up at his reflection a few times and felt his breath quicken, he needed to find scissors so he wouldn’t be ugly, he needed to find him. Every single time he glanced up the mirror showed him the exact same thing, he was ugly. Tears pooled in his eyes and he curled his fists at his side, maybe this is why mother never let him look in the mirror, she didn’t want him to know how horrible he truly looked.

He stopped his searching and sighed, that wouldn’t fix anything. He would always look like...like this. His palms found themselves planted to the dresser and he was kneeling on a chair looking even closer at himself. He stared into his own wide brown eyes and shut them in shame.

_ “God you look just like your father”Cruella sneered. “You act like him too, didn’t get an ounce of my wit” _

_ “ ‘m sorry mommy”he sniffled rubbing at those big brown eyes. _

_ “Stop crying!”Cruella snapped. “You know how I feel about tears. Tell me boy, how do I feel about them?” _

_ “T-they’re pa-path-”He struggled with the word. _

_ “Come on, spit it out!”She barked. “I haven’t got all day!” _ _   
_ _ “I-I don’t know mommy i’m sorry”He whimpered. “’m really sorry” _

_ Despite his best efforts fat tears rolled down his chubby cheeks, the woman towered over him and snarled like an attack dog. _

_ “I gave you your chance”She said and the back of her hand collided with his cheek. _

Carlos jumped away from the mirror and frantically rubbed at his cheek. The memory was fresh and he could still feel the sting of the blow, it felt so real. He couldn’t help but to continue to stare.

_ “Why must you look like that?”Cruella drawled. Carlos had looked up from the food boiling on the stove. _

_ “Like what mama?”He questioned. _

_ “Like...that”She said scrunching up her nose. “You don’t look the slightest bit like me, you’ve got every single trait from your father except his eyes. I mean that’s the one thing I wanted you to have but no, I get nothing I want in life” _ _   
_ _ He felt his stomach sink but asked anyways. “What...what were father's eyes like?” _

_ “Oh they were blue...beautiful eyes really. It seems as though you’ve gotten stuck with dull brown ones though, a shame”She said. _

_ “mama your eyes are brown,”he said. _

_ She narrowed her eyes at him and sat up in her chair. “Oh so this is my fault now?” _

_ “What no, that’s not-” _

_ “No no no, I know exactly what you’re doing!”She snapped. “Do you know how hard I worked for you to be here just for you to disappoint me? All I wanted was a beautiful blue eyed child but I got you instead, you were also supposed to be a girl, the least you could do was come out how I wanted you to!” _

_ He was taken aback and tried to shrink behind the pot he was mixing. “I..I’m sorry mama” _ _   
_ _ “Mmm I bet you are, i’m going out”She said sitting up. “I expect dinner to be done shortly. _

_ The mirror is evil,  _ he thought. But he couldn’t tear his eyes away from himself, did he really look like his father?

_ “Pathetic chubby cheeks, I thought that baby fat would’ve been gone years ago” _

He felt at his cheeks and pinched at the fat squishing it between his fingers, she was right. He was too old for baby fat, maybe he was just fat? He had never really thought about it at hell hall but now that he could see what she could see, she was right and he hated it. He tentatively lifted up his shirt and poked his stomach, it was soft, squishy. It wasn’t muscular like Jays or toned like Evie or Mals, he wanted to rip the fat right off of it. He didn’t want to be squishy, he didn’t want the ‘baby fat’ he wanted to look like everyone else. Jay didn’t have chubby cheeks, Ben’s thighs didn’t jiggle when he walked. He wanted to break the mirror, smash it and forget everything he had seen, but that wouldn’t be true. He had seen who he is, who he was, why mother doesn’t love him.    
“I don’t have blue eyes, i’ll never have blue eyes”He thought aloud. “But I can make myself beautiful”

_ “Oh don’t look so sad”She said patting his cheek. “I’m doing this with your best interest in mind, I can’t have my son being so horribly overweight now can I?” _

And she was right, mother was always right.

“I’ll make you proud mother”He whispered. “I’ll be the son you’ve always wanted”

* * *

He wiped his eyes and patted at his face making sure there was no sign of redness. He grabbed Jays vest off of the bed and tried to leave the room as tidy as he found it, whatever just happened would stay in this room. He straightened out his shirt and slowly opened the door, golden rays of sunlight poured through the stained glass windows. He gasped softly and froze in his tracks simply admiring the beauty, he’d always heard of stained glass but never imagined it would be this beautiful. Vibrant shades of blues and reds and emeralds danced along the halls, there was no doubt he was in a castle. He shut the door behind him and walked down the hall, searching for any signs of people, this place was huge. Luckily he bumped into Ben before he got too lost.

“Carlos”he smiled. “I was just coming to get you, I would like you to meet my father”

“Where are my friends?”Carlos asked.

“They’re outside with my mother, now come on!”Ben said pulling his arm. “Father is-”

He paused when Carlos immediately pulled away.

“Oh”He said. “I’m sorry I...I didn’t think…”

“It’s fine”Carlos said putting the miserable topic to rest. “You were saying about your father?”

“Ah yes! It’s taken him some convincing but he is really excited to meet you! While you were napping mother told him that you’ve done some research on the dynamics in the isle, he’d like to know more about that”he said leading the way down a narrow hallway. Carlos quickly doubled his speed to catch up, he had gotten taller but not tall enough. They reached a rounded door and Ben knocked on it, loudly. Carlos winced, the king would be pissed. The door swung open and Carlos has never felt so small, he let himself fall into Ben’s shadow and tried to remain as quiet as he knew how. Do not speak until spoken to. Ben took a step to the side and exposed Carlos to the unforgiving face of the King.

“Father this is Carlos De Vil”Ben said. “He is the one who wrote to you”

Carlos immediately realized he was being sized up, _ show no weakness _ . He squared his shoulders and set his jaw, his feet were planted in a fight stance.

“It’s an honor your highness”He said politely. “Thank you for inviting me into your kingdom”

The king looked surprised and gave a gentle nod. “The honor is all mine, I didn’t realize we had a scholar in the group. You’ll be a great addition to Auradon prep, lord knows they need intelligence there”

Carlos was stunned. “I-I thank you your highness but i’m not the only one in my group with significant intelligence. Evie has been doing chemistry her entire life and is excellent at equations, there’s not one she can’t solve. Mal is great at problem solving and is really fascinated by psychology I think she would be promising in that field.”

King Adam hummed and stroked his chin. “I know you all are here seeking refuge but what about the boy? I’m curious about him”

“Jay he’s very good at physical matters”Carlos said. “I’m pretty sure you could toss him into any sport and he’d excel, he’s also very creative-”

“Do you not think he’s smart?”The king asked. “You’ve listed academic fields for the girls but what about him?”

“I know he’s smart”Carlos said, more or less so to convince himself. “He’s shown his intelligence multiple times, he just doesn’t take interest in school”   
“That’s not good”The king said. “I know everyone isn’t bound for higher education but to play a sport or participate in a club at Auradon prep you need at least a C average. In public school it is a D, now if you think that might be a bet-”

“He can do it”Carlos said quickly, the thought of Jay being in a completely different school made him feel uneasy. “He can keep the C average, he’ll do even better, I’ll make sure of it”

“I thought you said he’s not interested in academics?”The king said holding back a smile. “How will you do it?”

“I don’t know”Carlos said honestly. “But I will do it”

“You’ve got passion and hope”The king smiled. “That’s an admirable trait many people here don’t even have”

“All we have on the isle is hope”He said. “If you lose that, you lose yourself”

“You’re wise beyond your years”The king said. “I won’t keep you any longer, but I do need to keep Ben. You’re free to wander, what’s mine is yours”

Carlos nodded and left the room. That conversation had gone better than he planned,and way better than he had hoped. He did in fact wander until he found the front door, realization struck him. He had to speak to Jay, not just speak but  _ tutor _ him. What had he gotten himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm going to be gone for two weeks without WiFi so sadly no updates until then :(. While i'm gone I will be hard at work cranking out chapters so don't think i've just forgotten about this story. It would be really sweet to come back to some comments but don't feel pressured to do so, I'll see you guys soon!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please read ending notes.

“Carlos sit still!”She scolded pulling at the tufts of black and white hair. Girls night in Evie called it, he had barely spent five minutes outside moping before she scooped him up and whisked him away. Now his nails were painted, his eyelids shiny and an undeniably flattering shade of ruby red lipstick painted his lips. He muttered an apology and winced as her grip got even tighter, the portion he hated just a little bit more than the rest was hair braiding. It was tedious and Evie always managed to do it too tight.

“Why do you braid so tight?”he asked.

“Why can’t you stop whining?”She shot back. “Just hush and watch the movie”

He rolled his eyes and stared at the screen in front of him, it was...different to say the least. The pictures were moving by so fast he was having a hard time retaining it, and there was a dancing crocodile? He groaned and rubbed at his eyes leaning closer. A sharp sting resonated through his scalp and he yelped sitting up straight.

“Did you just hit me with the comb?”He hissed.

“Oops”She said sweetly, letting the rattail comb dangle between her fingers. “It slipped, and it’ll  _ slip _ again if you don’t sit still”

“I’m sorry”he said. “I’m trying to watch the movie but I can’t focus on it”

“Because it’s different?”She asked, he nodded slightly. “I get that, it was weird at first for me too when I watched it on the ship. The more you watch the more you’ll get used to them”

“I just need to be doing something with my hands,”he sighed. “Sitting here doing nothing doesn’t feel right”

“Well you’re not doing nothing”She said. “You’re getting your hair braided”

“You know what I mean”he said. “I just feel kinda useless sitting around here all day”

“C, we’ve been here one day,”she chuckled. “I know you’re restless but can you at least  _ try _ and relax? We’re off the isle, we’re in fucking fairytale land! How are you finding the negative in everything?”

“I’m not trying to”He shrugged. “I just think a lot”

“Well stop”She said tying off the hair with an elastic. “Three more. Just try and see the positive in things, like today! What did you like about today?”

“Nothing”He said instantaneously.

“Well if you won’t give me a positive then you have to tell me how you fucked up with Jay”She said.

“I’m not obligated to tell you anything”He scoffed. “It’s between me and him”

“Since when did we keep secrets in this friendship?”She asked.

“Oh my god!”He groaned. “You sound just like him now! How is me wanting to keep something to myself a secret? Why can’t I have privacy? I’m not some baby who needs to be constantly monitored and coddled every time I don’t fess up to something!”

By this point his chest was heaving and tears were pooling up in his eyes, he blinked them away angrily.

“I miss him, alright. Is that what you wanted to hear? I miss him and I fucked up badly E”his voice cracked.

“C, you need to calm down and tell me what happened”She said softly. “I can’t help if I don’t know”

“We were arguing over something and you know Jay is pushy and...and I raised my voice at him”He said.

“Really?”She asked cocking a brow. “Jay is pissed because you ‘raised your voice?’”

“I screamed at him Evie, I screamed”He said. “Louder than I ever have before, I reminded myself of Cruella”

“Now don’t say that”she said slapping the back of his head. “You don’t have it in you to act like Cruella and that’s a good thing. What were you two arguing about?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it”he said quickly. 

“C…”She said. “I can’t help if I don’t know”

“Evie please”He said. “I really can’t tell you, it’s personal”

“Alright”she said. “I won’t push you, but if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here”

“Thank you Eve, really”He said.

“It’s no problem spots, I care about you. Two more”She said running the comb along his scalp. “Your scalp is flakey”

“Burn”He said rolling his eyes. 

“You love me”She said. “Now, tell me more about Jay”

* * *

“E, these look amazing”He said taking a look in the mirror. Running a hand along the braids he marvelled, tight enough to stay in for at least a few days.

“I try”She said pulling the hair out of the comb. “Your hair looks good like this, I never knew it was curly.”

“Yeah”he said rubbing the back of his neck. “I never let it grow out long enough to tell. I always kept my hair short because it’s more manageable that way”

“Well it looks nice, really”She said. “Now that we’re in Auradon maybe you should keep it longer, a new look”

“Yeah”He said distractedly. “Maybe”

He turned his head and assessed it from all angles, the curly tails of the braids hung loosely on the nape of his neck. He quickly turned away, he knew what happened when he looked too long.

“Did you ever keep your hair long, like as a kid?”She asked taking a seat on the bed.

“Yeah,”he said. “When I was really little it was down to my shoulders. Cruella said it gave me that cute innocent look. It distracted a ton of people while she was stealing”

“That’s horrible C,”she said.

“It’s whatever, when I got older and it wasn’t cute anymore she had me cut it. Said it made me look too feminine”He shrugged.

“That’s bullshit”she scoffed. “Jay’s hair currently goes past his butt and he oozes masculinity”

“But Jay is also strong and well built, I'm not”He said.

“Mmm you think Jay is well built?”She said wiggling her eyebrows. “Interesting”

“Oh please, everyone knows Jay is handsome. That’s a fact, on and off of the isle”He said.

“I don’t think Jay is handsome”She shrugged.

“You’re lying”He said rolling his eyes.

“I am”She chuckled. “He is handsome, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t”

“You...you think I'm handsome?”he asked.

“Of course I do C, why do you ask?”She asked tilting her head.

“I don’t know”He said ducking his head. “I mean i’ve always been called cute, or even pretty. I’ve just never been called handsome”

“Carlos are you for real?”She asked. “I mean absolutely for real?”

“Yeah”He shrugged.

“Well”She said facing him. “Carlos De Vil you are extremely handsome, if you weren’t like my baby brother I would have a crush on you”

“Oh fuck off!”He laughed falling back onto the bed. “That was really sweet though, thank you”

“It’s no problem, someone had to tell you”She said. “Now, time for you to braid my hair!”

* * *

1:00am. 1:00am and Carlos still wasn’t asleep. He stared up at the ceiling and thought of anything that might lull him to sleep. He remembered hot days on the isle playing in the water as a kid, Diego hoisting him up on his shoulders and his Auntie Anita keeping a watchful. Although the memory didn’t make him sleepy, it made him smile. Out of a handful of generally good memories this one had to be his favorite. He couldn’t begin to pinpoint how old he was but he knew he was young, it was the summer before he started school. It was spent on the far side of the isle, miles away from Cruella and with his favorite people in the world. He groaned and flopped over onto his stomach getting tangled in the blankets. Once he fought his way out he buried his face into the pillow, maybe if he just lay still and shut his eyes sleep would come. He shut his eyes and tried to force his body to relax.

Tick. tock.

Tick. tock.

He flopped back over and checked the clock.

1:13am.

At this point sleep seemed useless. Sitting up he hugged the pillow to his chest and contemplated who he could go and bother. The girls were probably asleep,Ben wasn’t even an option and he was pretty sure it had to be a legal crime to wake the King and Queen. The only plausible option was Jay, but they weren’t talking, it would be selfish to burst into his room and demand to be cuddled. Although the longer he sat there the more appealing the idea became,Jay holding him in those strong arms,crooning lowly into his ear and him drifting off into a much needed sleep. With the last bit of his pride thrown away he slid off the bed and padded to the door opening it as quietly as possible. The multicolored vest hung loosely on his torso as he peeked into just about every room down the corridor.

He was growing aggravated. If he saw one more storage closet he was going to lose his mind. Turning the corner he came across a very different stained glass, he must be in a different wing. Butterflies and pastel blue rabbits glided across the glass, he wanted to sit and marvel but there was no time for that. He needed to find Jay. He wandered into the wing and knocked on the first door he saw, it would have flew open if he didn’t catch the handle in time. Catching his breath he slowly walked inside stopping short, Jay wasn’t asleep. He was sitting criss cross on the bed staring at the black box, colorful pictures moved across it rapidly. The volume was low but Carlos could just make out the faint sound of...a talking duck? He shook his head and closed the door behind him.

“Jay?”He said softly. The brunet tensed but continued to focus his attention on the moving pictures.

“Jay I-”

“Is your head screwed back on?”Jay said gruffly. “Cause if you’re just coming in here to bullshit me you can leave”

“Jay I...please look at me”He pleaded, “Please”

Jay grabbed the remote and pressed the power button enveloping the two into darkness. Carlos could barely make it out but his back was still turned to him.

“Speak”Jay said. “You’ve got five minutes”

“I need to see you...please”He whispered.

“Carlos I can’t look at you right now, just speak.”Jay said firmly.

“Maybe this was a mistake then”He said and turned to the door.

“Stay.”

Carlos instinctively froze before his mind could catch up with him.

“Did you just give me a command?”He asked slowly. 

“Yes, I did”Jay said. “ Now will you please tell me why you’re in my room at 1:45am?”

“I…”His mind felt foggy, Jay had just given him a command and he  _ listened _ .

“Carlos”Jay said snapping his fingers. “The question.”

“Right!”He nodded. “I um...I just wanted to talk to you”

“About what?”Jay asked.

“About the way i’ve been acting lately,”he said, his fingers played with the hem of the vest smoothing over any creases.

“Go on”Jay said. “I’m listening”

“As you know, I spent most of my life taking care of other people. I never really got the same treatment back, so when you came along and tried to play knight in shining armor it made me mad. I can take care of myself, I've been taking care of myself, who is this asshole with the long hair?”He said. “Those were all the thoughts running through my head as I was running circles around you. I honestly never wanted to see you again after that day, I mean really-”

“Where is this going?”Jay sighed.

“Shhh, so as I was saying. I wanted nothing to do with you, and I intended to keep it that way, until I got to know you. Before I knew it, I was spending everyday leading up to the fire brainstorming plans to leave the house and come see you. Well now that we’re here we know those plans fell short but still, I wanted to be around you. That day in the forest when we finally saw each other you felt like my missing puzzle piece or some other sappy shit like that. The hole in my memory felt complete finally being able to put a face to your voice”

“C...where is this going?”Jay asked.

“Fuck it. You taking care of me made me realize I like being taken care of, a lot. I love it when you coddle me and wrap me up in your arms, when you sing to me and whisper to yourself when you think i’m sleeping. But you trying to monitor when I'm eating is a line that can’t be crossed…”

“Carlos no”jay said. “That was all really sweet but we’re not starting this argument again”

“I’m not here to argue,”he said. “I’m here to make things right”

“You make things right by telling me the truth”Jay stressed. “Although I really enjoy all the leverage I have on you now, I need to know the truth”

“Jay please, i’ll get on my knees and beg you. I can’t”He said.

“Then we’ll never be okay”Jay said. “You telling me how much you worship me is all good but if I don’t know the truth then I’ll have to take it with a grain of salt”

“It’s hard to tell you the truth”He said.

“Why?”Jay asked. “Why can you tell Mal and Evie everything but not me?”

“Because I actually care what you think,”he said.

“Carlos come here”Jay said. He shuffled his feet along the carpet and stood in front of him, eyes still trained on the floor. “Look at me”

“Request?”He said weakly.

“No,command”Jay said. His brown eyes fluttered up from the floor and when they met Jays his knees felt weak. A pair of hands shot up and gripped his hips keeping him upright.

“I never knew I had this effect on you”jay smirked.

“Shut up, it’s late”he huffed trying to ignore the prickles of euphoria shooting across his body, if Jays hands just trailed a little bit lower…

“Hey”Jay said snapping his fingers. “I want your eyes to stay on me” 

“Okay”he nodded.

“I know I can be an asshole sometimes-”

“Sometimes?”He mumbled.

“Yes,  _ sometimes _ . But that doesn’t apply to you. I’m sorry that I make you feel like you can’t come to me with certain things, i’ll try and be better if you meet me halfway.”Jay said.

_ You don’t have to be better _ , he thought.  _ You’re already perfect _ .

“I can do that,”he said.

“Good, it doesn’t have to start tonight. You’ve already poured your heart out enough and I kinda wanna lay here and cuddle my pup”Jay said.

“Call me that again”He whispered.

“My pup”Jay said cupping his cheek with one hand while the other rested lazily on his hip bone. “My smart,sarcastic,pain in the ass, pup”

“My Jayden”He whispered running the tips of his fingers up and down his bicep.

“You know I'd kill you if you were anyone else”Jay said, gently pulling him closer.

“Yeah, I know”He said. The brunet gave a sharp tug and he toppled over into his lap, his heart raced against his ribcage. What were they doing? He wanted to question it but out of fear of the moment ending he kept his mouth shut. Their two foreheads touched and he couldn’t help but to let his eyes flutter shut and enjoy the moment while it lasted. Things like this always happened at night, by morning they wouldn’t speak of it again.

“You’re wearing my vest”Jay whispered.

“Yeah”He said. Jays lips were so close to his, if he just leaned in a tiny but closer…

“Y’know I hate arguing with you”Jay said tracing patterns on hips hips. “I don’t like seeing you that upset, or being the one who got you that upset. I just hope after tonight we can talk more openly about these things”   
“That’s going to be hard,”He said. “We weren’t exactly allowed to be open on the isle”

“Sweetheart we’re not there anymore,”Jay said. “We can be anything we want to be here, we’re free”

Sweetheart. If carlos could blush any warmer he would run a fever.

“I get that but it’s just going to take some getting used to. I've got a lot on my plate right now, not even adding in the emotions,”he said.

“Then tell me. A burden shared is a burden halved”Jay said.

“T.A Webb”He whispered. “When did you start reading?”

“I didn’t”Jay said. “It’s something my mother used to say”

“Your mother?”

“Yeah”Jay breathed. “Tell me your worries and I'll tell you some things about her, deal?”

He nodded and let everything pour out. “Queen Belle thinks I'm this genius and she’s setting up constant meetings between me and fairy godmother to discuss dynamics on the isle. I’m not a professional! I’m just a teenage boy with theories that just so happen to be correct. On top of that I have to worry about school and then college and keep Mal from trying to kill every other dominant-”

“I’ll keep an eye on Mal, one less problem for you”Jay said. “But continue”

“I’m just constantly full of worry, it’s like even when i’m having a good day it’ll sneak up on me. I don’t understand why my brain does that, am I crazy?”He wondered.

“Crazy? No. Extremely aware of  _ everything _ ? Yes. This constant worry was like a superpower for you back on the isle, you never let your guard down,”Jay said.

“Yeah and now you wonder why I can’t be vulnerable now”He said. “I can’t even get into my emotions because there’s a lot of things going on that I don’t understand”

“Fair enough”Jay said. “Thank you C for telling me, really. If you ever need to talk just come find me, I don’t wanna spend that much time away from you again”

“Even if it was just a day?”He asked.

“Even if it was just a day”Jay confirmed. “You’re  _ my _ pup”

He nodded and gasped when the grip on his hips tightened.

“Say it”Jay whispered. He had that familiar glint in his eyes, it made the freckled boy feel hot all over.

“I’m your pup”he said.

“Good, if i hear Ben say it one more time I'll kill him”Jay said. Carlos couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled past his lips.

“W-what!”He giggled. “Ben called  _ me _ pup?”

“Yeah”Jay huffed. “It’s not funny”

“You stole the nickname from Mal”he pointed out.

“Yeah but I stole it fair and square”Jay said. “Besides the point is your mine”

“You’re possessive”He said.

“You like it”Jay smirked. “I can tell from the way you’re squirming against my-”

“Okay!”He exclaimed. “Okay, I like it”

“Hey”Jay said softly. “I won’t push anything until you’re ready, this is all your call” 

He let out a sigh of relief, he knew Jay would never force him but seeing the things he’s seen he could never be too sure.

“What does this make us?”The words seemed to have just slipped out. The silence that rapidly followed didn’t help the pounding in his chest.

“I...I don’t know”Jay said softly. “But I can tell you something I do know”

“What?”He asked.

“You’re mine”Jay said.

“Well does that make you mine?”He asked.

“Yeah...I guess it does”Jay said chuckling softly. “Who would’ve known”

“I want you to say it”he said.

“I’m Yours”Jay said softly.

“Louder”He prompted.

“I’m Yours”Jay said leaning it.

“Again”he said.

“Carlos De Vil I am completely and utterly yours”Jay said, the tips of their noses were brushing together.

“Kiss me”He breathed.

“No”jay said regaining his composure.

“N-no”he faltered.

“I don’t want it to be some heat of the moment thing, besides. If I started kissing you i’d lose control of myself,”Jay said.

“What if I want you to lose control?”He said.

“You don’t mean it, you’re just horny”Jay waved off. “And besides are you still a…?”

“Mhm”he hummed licking his lips.

“Then it’s definitely not happening like this. We should go to sleep, a lot of things just changed and I want to give you time to think before you go jumping into things”Jay said.

“Since when were you rational?”he huffed.

“Since I took interest in you”jay said.

“And that was?”He asked.

“The minute I laid eyes on you,”Jay said.

“So fucking cheesy!”He laughed pushing at the brunets chest.

“It’s true!”Jay laughed. “You were the most beautiful boy on the isle”

“Were?”he asked.

“Yeah, were”Jay said. “Now you’re the most beautiful boy in Auradon”

“Oh shut up”He said. He turned to face the clock, 3:26am. “Tell me about your mom before we go to sleep”

“Ah yes”Jay said. “I was kinda hoping you forgot about that”

“Yeah right”he scoffed. “Spill”

“Her name was Ameena”Jay said quietly. “I would tell you more but i’d like to end this night on a positive note”

Carlos bit his bottom lip and nodded. “I understand that, tell me when you’re ready”

“You’re actually the best”Jay groaned flopping onto his back, Carlos squealed and rolled over to the side.

“Asshole”He grumbled.

“I know”Jay shrugged. “The first step is accepting”

“Whatever”he said. “Come here and hold me”

Jay shuffled closer and muttered something along the lines of ‘don’t gotta tell me twice’. He wasted no time pulling the smaller boy flush against his chest.

“Is this what you wanted baby?”Jay cooed teasingly, yet it still made carlos blush.

“Don’t fucking patronize me”he grumbled. “But yes, this is what I wanted”

The brunet hummed and grabbed the blanket flinging it clumsily over the two.

“Will things be different in the morning?”He whispered.

“I don’t know”Jay whispered. “But let’s not think about that right now, let’s just sleep”

Although unsettling he rolled over and buried his face into the brunets chest.

“I’m yours”he whispered.

“And I'm Yours”Jay said kissing his forehead.

And that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys I am back! I'm so sorry it took me so long to pop out another chapter, I got sick on holiday so I was straight up not having a good time these past few days. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did please leave a comment because they're greatly appreciated. Also you can all expect more frequent updates.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read end for notes

It was only his second day in Auradon and Carlos was already up to his neck in meetings and various assignments. He fidgeted with his fingers as he sat in the lobby of an all too expensive looking building, the Queen had sent him in the limo and promised it would pick him up at 10:00am precisely. Today was the day he took the test, the one that decided where he would rank in society and most importantly, where he was allowed to dorm for school. He had the slightest hunch of what he might be but the more he thought about it the more it puzzled him. He wasn’t _ necessarily _ submissive by nature, he just so happened to be a lot more passive and patient then most. Biting his lip, he checked his watch for the uptenth time, 9:25am, the test would begin at 9:30am, unless they decided to call him early. What if they _ did _ decide to call him early? He picked at the lint of the blazer he was wearing, a last minute hand me down from Ben. He exhaled through his nose with a crooked smile, Jay was more than pissed by that turn of events.

Evie had insisted on taking out the braids and instead slicking it back, going the extra mile to powder his face. He was representing them, the first isle kid to be out in Auradon, the one to make or break their stay. He anxiously reminded himself of all his manners and went out of his way to be polite, it was disgusting. fiddling with the cuffs of his blazer he took a slow deep breath. _ I'm okay _ , he thought, _ I'm in control _. But was he really? His fate was in the hands of his psyche and people he didn’t know, two things he didn’t trust.

* * *

The test was anything but what he expected, it wasn’t really a test at all. He sat in a chair, got his blood drawn and was sent on his way with a sticker and a juicy juice. He wasn’t sure what disappointed him more, the fact that it was so casual or that his theories were debunked. It was more biological than anything else and no one really cared too much for dynamic. The only thing it determined really was dorming situations for schools and the monarchy, making sense why most dominant Kings sought after neutral partners, it minimizes the chance of having a submissive heir. Besides that it didn’t really bleed into the life of the working class and the general public. This should be a relief to him, he’d spent his whole life being faced with hierarchy but he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Cruella’s books were old and displayed dynamics from the 1950’s, it wasn’t his fault he romanticized the past. The thought of specific roles for each dynamic was dreamy, a fantasy, he just happened to be a few decades too late. Maybe he just wasn’t speaking to the right people? Maybe these weren’t questions for the king and queen or the nice lady who took his blood, maybe he needed to ask fairy godmother herself. He sighed and threw the juice box away, he knew it was childish but pouting was the only thing that made him feel better right now. 

Nothing made sense, the dominant freak out that Jay and Mal had on the ship couldn’t just be biology--or maybe the two went hand in hand? It wasn’t impossible for biology to play a role on the psyche, it actually made sense. The longer Jay spent outside the barrier, the more his natural instinct started to play a role in the way he was acting, that couldn’t just be coincidental. He had always been dominant on the isle, but the minute the barrier was lifted and no longer played a role in his mind it started seeping out so strongly he couldn’t control it. You can’t suppress biology but you can suppress and alter the psyche, he needed to get his hands on that spell and see just what components went into it. He entertained the idea of it all just being hysteria but that theory was thrown away too, it wasn’t possible because the two were in different rooms when it happened.

“Carlos De Vil?”

He raised his hand up slightly and quickly walked towards the limo.

“Hi, I know this is a lot to ask but is it possible we take a detour to fairy godmothers estate?”He asked. 

“I...I’m not sure, we’d have to speak with the ki-”

“Oh no need”he said. “I’ve already spoken to them about this”

“Why-”

“Confidential business relations”he said. “Now, we’re going to fairy godmothers correct?”

“I...I guess”The driver said.

“Excellent”he smirked sitting back in his seat, lying was his native language and Hades it felt good to speak it again.

* * *

“Thank you again”he said. “I won’t be long, you can pick me up around noon?”he said twirling a strand of his hair. The driver nodded and helped him out of the vehicle, with a wave and a forced smile he was gone. Today seemed to be full of surprises because this was again, not what he expected. It was a small cottage, smaller than the castle and smaller than most he’d seen in downtown Auradon. He almost felt bad arriving unannounced, almost. But he needed answers and it felt quite good being a little bad. He may not be strong like Jay, intimidating like Mal or compromising as Evie but manipulation, manipulation was his game. He ran a hand through his gelled back hair fluffing it up, he needed to look innocent and harmless. Biting down on his bottom lip he walked up to the door knocking gently. One more quick floof of the hair and he stood with his hands behind his back waiting for it to open. He already had his script in mind.

The hinges creaked open and he couldn’t help but smirk.

“Hi-”  
“Carlos De Vil”she said. “I’ve been expecting you”   
What.

“I beg your pardon?”He squeaked.

“You isle kids aren’t as sneaky as you think, come in”She said opening the door further. “I’ve received a text from the chauffeur that you’ve scheduled a meeting with me?”

“I...yes?”He asked.

“You can’t lie to members of the royal family, it’s a bippity boppity bad idea”She said. “Besides, you’re lucky I asked this matter not to be reported to the Queen”

“Why?”he asked taking a seat at a small round table. “If you knew I was lying why not bust me?”

“Because I know the transition can be hard, and I’m rather interested in your theories. I’ve heard good things about them, it would be foolish to ‘bust’ a scholar,”she said.

“I wasn’t really here to talk theory, I don’t have my notebooks”He explained. “I’m actually here because I have a few questions”

“Questions?”she asked. “Luckily I might just have some answers”

“Are there any psychological aspects to dynamics or is it solely biology?”He asked.

“Well of course there are”She said. “If it was purely biological then there would be no need in knowing and identifying the dynamics.”

“Fascinating”he whispered. “What are the psychological qualities of...let’s say a submissive?”

“Well submissives are far more susceptible to orders”She started. “Really from any other dynamic but mainly dominants, it’s a part of their biology to obey them. Unlike let’s say neutrals, they can go against a dominants command but it would take immense will power. Many submissives are also reliant on positive affirmation from dominants, especially ones they have close relations too.”  
“Uh huh”he said. 

“Submissives are also most comfortable taking orders--not saying they’re incapable of thinking for themselves-- casually we call them the people pleasing dynamic, they want to make sure everyone is happy and taken care of.”She continued. 

“Do submissives um...is kneeling still a thing?”he asked carefully.

“Oh most definitely”She said. “It’s one of the most practiced ways to calm down a frantic submissive, it’s practiced in the workplace, educational systems, etc. It doesn’t hold the same stigma it used to”

“The woman who took my blood said it didn’t really affect the lives of the general public”He said.

“Oh the answer could vary depending on who you ask”She waved off. “Some people are really showy and proud about their dynamics some aren’t”

“She also said that it was completely biological and had little to nothing to do with the psyche”He said.

“Many nurses happen to be neutrals”She explained. “Neutrals have a subdued natural instinct, it’s just the way they are. A mixture of medical books and lack of natural instinct can result in a little ignorance towards other dynamics, no matter what. When you’re not being constantly reminded of the actions and reactions--especially if one has a neutral partner--it’s easy to simply forget”

“So you’re telling me that she gave me her own opinion instead of the facts?”He asked.

“Yes...and no”she said. “With you not growing up in Auradon it’s very hard to explain why she would do that”

“Alright”he blinked, “I have one last question”  
“Lay it on me”She said.

“I know you don’t work in this particular department but you are _ the _ fairy godmother so I have to ask, what do you think my results will be?”He asked.

“Carlos, I think that deep down you know the answer yourself”She smiled.  
“This is...thank you for sharing your knowledge with me, really”He said. “But it was wrong of me to just show up at your house uninvited, I apologize”   
“If the only reason you came was to seek knowledge then don’t apologize”She said. “I admire your hunger for it. Please come again with your theories, they’re always welcome here”

“How can I repay you?”he asked seriously, “I don’t have much-”  
“Learn”she said. “Learn as much as you can and teach me something”

“Definitely”he said. “I mean yes! Yes I will”

“Oh don’t be so stuffy”She said. “I’ve got a teenager myself, her name is Jane. She goes to Auradon prep, where you’ll be attending after the vacation”

“Vacation?”He questioned

“Yes it is currently spring break, school will start up again at the end of the month,”she said.

“You guys go to school in the spring?”He asked.

“We have a nine month long school year with breaks in between and holidays,”she said, noticing the look of distress on his face she quickly added. “Very different from the isle of the lost but you should adapt quickly”

He nodded, adapting was something he proved to be rather good at.

“I should probably send you on your way now, don’t want the king and queen pitching a fit”She chuckled. “And we will keep in touch because I was already scheduled to meet with you and your crew tomorrow regarding schooling matters”

He couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

“I’m still really sorry about showing up unannounced,”he said.

“Carlos i’m going to tell you this and I want you to remember it”She said. “Never apologize for wanting to learn, never. All it does is do you a disservice”  
He carefully thought over the words and nodded.

“Thank you”He said.

“It’s no problem,”she said. “Now, let's get you back to the castle”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I hope you enjoy the little lore dump/inbetween chapters while I brainstorm ideas for our favorite couple who's not really a couple! Again if you enjoy please leave a comment because it really makes me happy


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in this chapter there will be some mature themes.

Carlos was exhausted and quite honestly on the verge of a mental break. Everyday he was up before sunrise, back to the castle by noon, and out again until after dark. He wouldn’t wish legal matters and citizenship papers on his worst enemy-or maybe he would? Cruella deserved to suffer wherever she was. At this point it’s been three weeks of non-stop verifications and court visits and pledging good so many times the word seemed alien to him. Goodness was always second nature to him but now he really wanted to let it wither away, if he could burn a whole city and get away with it, he would. His pyromaniac inclinations were the least of his concerns as he flopped down onto his bed, the silk lining of his suit jacket was far too stuffy for him. He would give anything to sit at the top of his treehouse watching the shimmer of the barrier, hoping and wishing on the odd dandelion he would sometimes come across. He’d spent years trying to get off that damned rock but now...he couldn’t help but miss it. On the isle he wasn’t expected to constantly be dressed up, he wasn’t expected to always use his manners, always be polite. He’d been scolded more than a few times on his use of profanity alone, it was ridiculous. Maybe he just thought he was good because everyone around him were rotten, maybe he is evil?

He ripped the suit jacket off with a growl and flung it across the room, it wasn’t him. None of this was him. The saying goes ‘be careful what you wish for’, he knew it, he heard it and he ignored it. Everything was moving far too fast, he’d almost been in Auradon for a month yet he could still smell the forest of the isle. Taking a shaky breath he practically tore open the button down shirt for a second not caring what happened to it, it didn’t matter, nothing mattered. Sliding off the bed he tore through his little belongs for his leather jacket, _ his. _ Not something he was given out of pity but something he earned and made his own, it was rightfully his. Once he found it he wasted no time digging for the rest of _ his _ clothes. He was a charity case, an intellectual charity case that they would suck dry and throw away the minute he became useless, he wouldn’t give them the chance. He shimmied into the distressed jeans finally feeling at home in his family colors, he would never rep Cruella but he would always be a proud De Vil, it gave him status. He pulled his black and white tee shirt over his head, it needed more, something that really screamed ‘fuck you Auradon and your preppy standards’. Pulling on his boots he took one look in the mirror and had to fight the urge to break it, he wanted to destroy everything about this place. Now it had clicked that they were trying to change him, slowly but surely, and he wouldn’t allow that. Growing up on the isle he was ashamed to be a villain, now he wants to scream it in the face of the next person who scolds him for using ‘fuck’. 

He was fully dressed and filled with buzzing adrenaline at midnight, he didn’t know what he was going to do but he did know who he was spending it with. Ditching the flowery room he crept down the hall to the equally nauseating butterfly wing knocking on the familiar door. Before he could even get an answer he was throwing it open, fuck the noise, everyone would just have to deal with it.

“C?”Jay said turning away from the tv. “What's the-oh…”

He smirked and shut the door behind him taking a step forward. “You like it?”

“Hell yeah I do”Jay breathed. “Haven’t seen you dressed like that in a long time”

“Well then come and show me how much you like it”He said boldly.

“C, you already know that-”

“Jay fuck it!”he said annoyed. “Fuck everything Auradon put in your head, I wanna do this the isle way”

He heard what sounded like a growl. “Baby please, you don’t know what you’re getting into”

“Of course I do”He scoffed. “You think what you did was a secret? Every time I went to school I had to hear about how the infamous Jay fucked everyone’s brains out. Don’t you think it’s my turn?”

“We...we don’t have lube”jay strained gripping onto the sheets.

“I don’t care, I want to feel it in the morning”He said. “Fuck me”

“You’re a virgin”Jay said.

“Yeah, and I want you to take me”He said directly into the brunets ear. “Won’t you take me?”

“Fuck”the brunet growled. One minute the freckled boy was smirking gleefully and the next he was gasping flat on his back, jay heavy and thick against his thigh. Hands roamed freely until they found their way to ever lightening blonde hair gripping tightly. He practically keened at the sting and bucked up against him. Jay smirked and leaned down brushing their lips together, just enough to give him a taste.

“I’m not gonna fuck you”Jay mumbled kissing the blondes neck.

“Why not?”He gasped squirming underneath the brunet, this earned an extra sharp tug to his hair.

“Aww baby”jay smirked pulling away for a moment. “You can’t take me, not yet anyways”

“Pr-prove it”his heart was racing. The brunets larger hand closed around his own and gently brought it between their bodies. Once jay let go he let his hand wander and startled at the soft moan that broke the moderate silence of heavy breathing. He was touching Jays cock, it was long and thick and-

“Oh my hades”he whispered running his free hand through thick brown hair. The brunet gritted his teeth and pushed harder against his hand, grinding roughly. Carlos bit his bottom lip and pulled his hand away closing the gap between them, his hips were soon pressed flush against the mattress. He took a stuttering breath and stared up at the boy above him, things were moving fast but he was in control. Jay didn’t have any expectations, jay wasn’t trying to change him, Jay wouldn’t hurt him. Jay was-he let out a groan and his hands gripped harder at the long hair-Jay was trying to please him, and he was doing a good job. Tight fingers loosened in his hair and trailed his way down to cup his reddening cheek. It was a sweet gesture and he would probably cry from the pure devotion in those dark brown eyes if his cock wasn’t quite literally straining against his boxers.

“You’re perfect Carlos”Jay whispered, “So fucking perfect”

Those words went straight to his dick. He cried out harshly and wrapped his legs around the older boys hips trying to pull him closer, he needed jay closer. A hand was slapped over his mouth and his eyes widened.

“Fuck you liked that didn’t you?”Jay said peppering kisses on his neck. “You like when I call you perfect? My perfect boy, so fucking good for me”

His head was spinning, at first the pleasure was tolerable but not ultimate euphoria was kicking in and he wasn’t even sure he was on the same planet. Jay roughly grabbed at his hips and stuck his thigh between his legs giving him more friction. A litany of whimpers flooded past his lips as he grinded against Jays thigh bucking wildly, he was sure his eyes had gone cross at some point and he was drooling.

“That’s it pup”Jay said guiding his hips. “You’re doing so good for me, all for me”

“All for you”he whispered, “Kiss me?”

“Gladly”

* * *

“So”Jay said linking their pinkies together. “Care to explain what that was about?”

“I don’t know who I am anymore,”he said.

“Um alright...what do you mean?”Jay asked pausing in his stride, “let’s take a seat”

Carlos nodded and plopped down on the gravel below them. “My whole life i’ve been idolizing and fantasizing about this place, it was one of my only escapes from Cruella. When i first started school and I learned about the barrier I always thought that...that we were the ones in the wrong, that we all deserve to be stuck there.”

“Mhm”jay nodded.

“That filled me with some sort of long lasting guilt, I resented everything evil at that point. I thought that if I was as good as possible someone would see and take me away to this magical land of opportunity and freedom...that’s a fucking lie”He sniffled. “Everything I thought about this place is a lie, they hate us Jay-”

“Baby no they don’t-”

“But they do!”He exclaimed. “You don’t leave the castle, you don’t see the looks of disgust, people trying to shield their children from you. They all think we-we’re mindless monsters who only know how to destroy! I can’t keep playing dress up and pretending to be this golden child they found on that dying rock, this isn’t who I am”

“Then tell me who you are”Jay said.

“I’m Carlos De Vil, son of Cruella, from the isle of the lost”He said.

“Say it again for me”Jay said.

“I’m Carlos De vil, son of Cruella, from the isle of the lost”He said.

“And I'm Jayden, son of Jafar and Ameena, from the isle of the lost”Jay said.

“If this place is what good is I don’t wanna be good anymore”He said. “But I don’t want to be evil either, I just want to be human. I’m no Cruella but i’m also no saint”

“C, I feel the same exact way”jay said grabbing his hands. “This whole divide between good and evil is bullshit. I don’t want to choose a side either”

“Then don’t”He said quickly.

“What happens when they ask me to pledge good then?”Jay said. “What do I do?”

Carlos hadn’t seen him look this hopeless since the isle, it was heartbreaking.

“You pledge good”he explained. “But in your heart you know you’re choosing neither”

“Fuck it, I choose you Carlos”Jay said. “For the past few years you’ve been my good and my evil, if i’m choosing anything I choose you”

“I choose you”He said. “And I choose the isle, I may live here now but that’s my home”

“And the isle”Jay corrected with a chuckle, “I choose you and the isle”

“We may have come from nothing”He said.

“But at least we know where we stand,”Jay said.

“Jayden, son of Jafar and Ameena, from the isle of the lost”He whispered pressing their foreheads together.

“Carlos De Vil, son of Cruella, my prince of the isle”

* * *

The very next day Carlos strolled into one of his meetings leather jacket and all. The looks were infuriating but they filled him with a primal drive,_ they’re going to accept me whether they like it or not. _ He was going to show them what an isle boy truly was, he had a plan. He kept things cordial but casual, made it a point to slip up with his manners every now and again. He was tired of kissing ass to everyone in the room when they wouldn’t even think of doing the same. Mutual respect, something on the isle he learned a long time ago, it was twisted in his own right but at least he was still respected. He missed his status, he missed the way people’s faces would contort in fear when they heard who his mother was, he still got his ass kicked regularly but to a degree he was respected. No one dare debilitate or kill the son of Cruella, he may have just been her servant but belonging to her gave him power alone. Now that he was in a position of disadvantage he can finally understand the want, the _ need _, for power. It was sickening how much he’s contradicted himself over the years, but this, this was him. The trademark black and white-he considered himself more of a platinum blonde-hair growing out of his scalp, to the fur lining his jacket, he was Carlos De Vil.

“Mr. De Vil what insight do you have on the matter?”an older gentleman asked.

“I believe that it makes perfect sense to merge villain kids with non-villain kids if we want them to comfortably integrate into Auradon”he said.

“The only concern is the parents of Auradon residents...you surely know the history between the two”the gentleman said.

“And what about it?”He asked with a raised brow. “Isn’t it what you just said, history? People of Auradon will never stop fearing us if they keep viewing us as an outside threat, almost alien to them. We must also consider the feelings of other villain kids being treated in this situation, contrary to popular belief they are people too with feelings”

That seemed to silence them, he bit back a smirk and leaned back in his chair.

“Aren’t you a little young to be speaking on this council?”A woman asked. “Surely the minimum age is 18”

“Well when I find a person from the isle 18 years or older willing to advocate civilly I'll let you know”He said sweetly. “It wouldn’t be a fair decision without at least one representative from the isle, I was the representative for my particular group and I'm the one who wrote the letters here seeking asylum. Pardon me if I'm wrong but as a native from the isle i think i’m more the qualified to speak on the topic”

“Right”the lady said curtly.

“Anymore objections?”he asked. “No? Then let’s put differences aside and get back to the topic at hand”

* * *

“Oh my Hades!”He groaned flopping onto the familiar bed, Jay smirked and ran a hand along his back.

“What happened today?”Jay asked.

“People can just be so ignorant sometimes,”he said. “Like honestly if I knew it was going to be like this i would have never came”

“Yes you would”Jay waved off.

“I beg your pardon?”He said through a mouthful of duvet.

“I get that Auradon is shitty but it’s not all bad,”Jay said. “We’ve got beds and electricity and hot water. Things we only dreamed about on the isle, I get this isn’t the fairytale land of equality that you dreamed of but it’s still pretty amazing. What’s the most important thing to you?”

“My education”he answered instantly.

“Exactly”Jay said. “You’ll be going to one of the best schools tuition free, then you can go to college! Fucking college baby, we never would have even dreamed about college on the isle. Just because it’s not what you expected doesn’t mean you can’t make it good”

“That’s a whole ton of optimism from somebody who was threatening to jump overboard the minute we got on the ship”He grumbled.

“Carlos just shut the fuck up for a minute and actually _ try _ and listen to what i’m telling you”Jay said harshly.

“I think I should go-”

“Sit still before I beat your ass like this is the isle”Jay said, when Carlos didn’t move he took a deep breath. “Good. You’re completely blocking out all of the good in this place and only focusing on the negatives, we’ve got sunshine,rain that won’t kill us and beds, actual fucking beds with blankets and everything! You came here for safety and school, focus on those two things. There’s no way Cruella can get you over here and you get to learn”

“Yeah but at what price?”He asked. “On the isle you get insulted to your face, here it’s like I've had to learn an entirely new language of what’s genuine and what’s not. I can barely tell when people are calling me out of name until the laughter starts. They...they asked me to do something before school starts”

“who asked you to do what?”Jay said a little confused.

“The King and Queen wanted me to dye my hair so I didn’t scare the new students, not Mal or Evie, just me”he said annoyed. “Mal has fucking purple hair and i’m the one getting asked to dye mine”

“Did you tell them to fuck off?”Jay asked.

“Of course I did”He scoffed, “I’m not completely spineless, it’s just the fact that they would even ask that ticks me off. I’m not scary! That is one thing I'm sure of so why me? Why is this only happening to me when there’s four of us?”

“C, I...I don’t know”Jay said. “But if I were you, I'd tell fairy godmother immediately.”

“I can’t keep running to fairy godmother every time something goes wrong, after the council incident today I need to give her a break”He said.

“Then Carlos I don’t know what to tell you,”Jay stressed. “It kills me that I don’t have all the answers to take your pain away, but I really don’t.”

“Jay i’m not asking you to problem solve for me”he said softly scooting closer to the brunet. “You being here, listening and trying is enough for me. I’m sorry that I put so much on you”

“As your dominant I should be able to take more”Jay said.

“Hey”He said hitting his shoulder playfully. “You’re not my dominant yet, we haven’t made that official”

“Yeah but we will one day”Jay said lacing their fingers together. “Go up to the courthouse, sign the papers and have a big party”

“I think we call that marriage on the isle”He said furrowing his brows.

“Turns out they’re actually two different things”Jay said. “Two people of the same dynamic can’t get bonded but they can get married, crazy right?”

“That’s so stupid”He said. “What if I wanted to bond with another sub-”

Jay grunted and pulled him closer, he giggled and pushed at the brunets cheek with the heel of his hand.

“_ Hypothetically _ speaking!”He exclaimed and shrieked when he was pulled on top of the older boy and tickled relentlessly.

“Mercy!”He cried out, “Mercy! I’m sorry!”

“Who do you belong to!?”Jay growled playfully. He wasn’t expecting an answer but his heart stopped when he got one.

“You jay! I belong to you!”He giggled flailing, Jay let out a satisfied hum and wrapped his arms around the blonde’s torso.

“Damn right”Jay said. “You’re mine”

“And you’re mine”He said happily. “I bet if people here saw us like this, they’d absolutely freak. They’d say we’re too young to make these proclamations, too young to be so devout to each other.”

“We never really got the chance to be young”Jay said. “At least I know I didn’t, I'm practically middle aged by isle standards”

“Yeah but way hotter”He said pecking his cheek, “I’ve got something to confess”

“Oh?”Jay said raising a brow. 

“When I was born Cruella was really mad I was a boy so she burned the birth certificate”he explained. “And I never got to celebrate a birthday...so I don’t really know how old I am”

“That day on the ship…”Jay said.

_ “When did you grow up?”Jay asked staring at him for a few seconds. “You’re not the same little boy I threw back to Cruella” _

_ “I was never a little boy”He huffed. _

_ “You look so much older now, you’ve gotten taller too,”Jay said. “How did I not notice any of this?” _

_ “Because it’s not important, let’s go”He said. _

_ “Carlos...how old are you?”Jay asked. _

_ Carlos stiffened. “What difference does it make? I’m still Carlos, goodnight Jay” _

_ “You know how old I am, I don’t think it’s fair-” _

_ “Goodnight Jay”Carlos said firmly. _

“C, why didn’t you just tell me?”Jay asked. “I wouldn’t have cared”

“I didn’t want you to pity me”he said. “Cruella’s done a lot of shit but that’s usually the breaking point for most. After Evie squeezed it out of me I couldn’t look her in the eyes for days. It was this same look of pity, Mal too. It would have broken me to have you do the same”

“I don’t know what I have to do to make you realize that i’m not Mal and Evie”Jay sighed. “I want to know these things because I want to know you, not because I have some weird pity fetish”

Carlos snickered and wiped at his misty eyes. “Alright i get this is a serious conversation but that’s the best thing you’ve ever said”

“Carlos-”

“Honestly, can E put that on a shirt-”

“Carlos!”Jay said snapping his fingers, “stop trying to change the subject. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t trust me, I want honesty from now on”

“Jay-”

“That’s a command”Jay said. “I won’t force you but just know it’s a command, so treat it like one”

“Fine”He sighed rolling over.

“Ah ah ah”Jay said pulling him back, “Don’t get pissy with me. I want honesty, not a million dollars”

He cracked a smile and playfully rolled his eyes.

“You just _ love _ telling me what to do”he said.

“And you love hearing it”Jay said. “Now that we’ve gotten severely off topic, please continue telling me about the ignorant people in the council”

* * *

It was April 29th and for the first time in _ weeks _ Carlos had the day off. He made it a point to try and sleep in but he was still awake well before dawn, and he had fallen asleep in his own bed. He rolled out of bed and instinctively walked towards the closet before stopping, he had nowhere to be today. Instead he grabbed his blanket off the bed and wrapped it around himself, maybe if the kitchen was empty he could make himself breakfast. Breakfast, he hadn’t thought about that positively since the isle, but here he stands, shirtless and wrapped in a blanket not completely hating himself. Mirrors lied, he was sure of it, but maybe they showed things that weren’t there too. The only thing he had to do today was get a well deserved haircut-it was tied back in a tiny ponytail at the nape of his neck-and pack his backpack. Tomorrow they start their first day at Auradon prep. He didn’t understand why they would start school now when the school year ended in June, it didn’t make sense. Shuffling out of the bedroom he tiptoed down the left wing and to the servants staircase of the castle, it should lead directly to the kitchen.

It was pitch black and he walked slowly trying not to trip and ultimately bust his ass down the narrow stairs. In the darkness he saw a pair of glowing eyes in the distance and resisted the urge to scream, it was just Mal. He slowly climbed down the rest of the steps and followed the glow to the kitchen. Switching on a light he saw that she too was scantily clad and wrapped in a blanket, the only difference was she was sitting smack in the middle of the room with a mug in hand.

“What are you doing up?”He asked sitting beside her, “You don’t do early”

“I’m just thinking”she said taking a sip of whatever was in that cup. “Today’s our last day in the castle and I've really gotten used to the place. I mean this has been our home for almost a month and now we’re getting thrusted into the real world, with actual people who don’t know us or our story. It’s a little damning to think-to know that even though I came here with good intentions, people will still see me as a monster”

He was stunned. “Mal you’re no monster”

“I know that”she huffed. “But they won’t, they just know my mother and the hell she raised when she was here. They won’t know me, it’ll be just like the isle. I’ll just be Maleficents daughter”

“I get that”he said after a few beats, “I’ve been into the real world of Auradon and i’m sorry to say it but it’s cruel. They all think I'm my mother when I've spent my entire life trying to separate myself from her as much as possible. But the older I get and the lighter this blonde floof gets the resemblance becomes uncanny, no one's hair is naturally white”

“Your hair does get lighter as you age”she speculated, “when we first met it was more blonde”

“Really”he deadpanned, “That’s all you got out of my little speech?”

“Honestly yeah”She yawned, “It’s a little early for me to process deep conversations”

“You started it”he chuckled, “and whatever's in that cup it smells nice”

“It’s hot chocolate, wanna try some?”she asked.

“Chocolate?”He said tilting his head, what the fuck was chocolate?

“Fuck you’ve never had chocolate”she said, “well here, it seems like something you would like”

He hesitantly accepted the mug and brought it to his lips taking a sip. He blinked once,then twice,then a third time trying to process what the hell it was.

“Oh my hades”he whispered.

“Right?”she grinned, “it’s fucking addicting”

He nodded and took another sip, it tasted like more.

“Hey”mal said snatching the cup back, “make your own, there’s packets in the cupboard”

And so the two sat clad in only their underwear drinking hot chocolate at 4:45am.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky and Carlos was thoroughly addicted to hot chocolate. He was sipping on his third mug as Evie gently spritzed his hair with a spray bottle of warm water. It was time to pass the torch of self haircuts to someone who knew what they were doing. Mal and Jay were slung across opposite sides of the room, if he squinted it was almost like being back at the hideout.

They cracked stupid jokes at each other, one so horrible Mal launched a pillow square at Jays face. It made his heart feel warm, it was as if he had a piece of the isle right there with him. He bit back a smile and continued sipping on his hot chocolate.

“So, who’s ready for school tomorrow?”Evie said, snipping at the bottom layers of paling hair.

“Why remind me?”Mal scoffed.

“I dunno, I'm kind of excited”Evie said. “Y’know new beginnings and all that jazz”

“Screw new beginnings”Jay huffed, “I can’t even skip because we’ll be on campus, how is that fair to me?”

“It’s fair to your education”Carlos said.

“No one asked you”Jay said narrowing his eyes.

They were still keeping up the illusion that they were fighting to the best of their abilities. He saw the flash of remorse in Jays eyes and stifled a laugh, this boy was sweeter than the hot chocolate he had quickly grown to love.

“Well then”Evie said brushing strands of hair of the boys shoulders. “I guess being civil is out of the question…”

It felt wrong to hide but he wanted to be sure what they had would last, even if it meant keeping the girls in the dark a little while longer.

_ I’ll tell them soon, _ he thought.

And maybe he wanted to keep what they had all to himself, from all that he’s been through he deserved to be just a little selfish.

* * *

Soon came a lot sooner than he thought.

“You can stop hiding”Mal said casually. Carlos slowly put down the book he was reading and stared.

“You and Jay”she clarified, “You can stop hiding. Evie may be a little oblivious but you should know nothing slips by me”

What. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a heavy sigh. “How much do you know?”

“Enough to know that our little Carlos isn’t so little anymore”she smirked. “When you hugged me the other day you smelled just like him”

“Why do you know what he smells like?”he asked crossing his arms.

“Relax, I don’t want him”She said rolling her eyes. “Jay and I grew up together and he always smelled vaguely of cologne. It’s also from Agrabah so you can’t even argue that he started wearing it here”

He felt cornered, like a street dog waiting to be put down.

“Yeah”he said softly, “Yeah, just go ahead and tell Evie now”

“C, i’m not going to tell her anything”She said, “I’m just a little offended that you wanted to keep this a secret! I’ve been betting money on you two for a year now.”

“You’ve been what?”He said clenching his jaw.

“Yeah, it’s kind of obvious how into you he is”She said. “The things he did for you he didn’t even do for the girls he was fucking _ regularly _, you must be a sex god or something”

“We’re not _ fucking _”He said rolling his eyes, “It’s more than that, we haven’t even had sex yet.”

“It’s more than that?”She asked. “You’re telling me that Jay-_ our _Jay is finally settling down?”

“Not really?”he stressed, “I-I don’t know! We don’t have labels or anything, I'm his and he’s mine. As long as we stay that way labels mean nothing to me”

“That’s disgustingly sweet”She said, “But also very isle of you, like a Harry Hook and Uma situation”

“I um...I guess you could say that?”He said, “Look this conversation is giving me a headache, I'd like for it to end”  
“Oh spots”She said and smiled something evil, “this is just the beginning”

* * *

It was their last night together. Tomorrow they would be split up for the next two years, it was hard not to be extremely aware of that as they sat through dinner. Carlos had tried, he used every excuse in the book but there were no exceptions being made .He had to sleep in the submissive dorms and Jay in the dominant ones, if either were found after curfew it could be detrimental to their student visas. No matter how against it Jay was he wasn’t damning Carlos back to that dying rock. They sat close, shoulders practically touching as they listened to Ben go on about how much they would love it there, how accepting everyone was. _ Yeah, of their own kind _, Carlos thought. It was an explicitly known fact, if you weren’t of royal blood you would never be accepted in this kingdom. Carlos chewed on a few bites of mashed potatoes and nodded along, Jay grabbed his hand under the table. He didn’t speak, his expression barely changed, but his eyes said it all, he was proud. Carlos felt his cheeks grow warm and smiled, he loved to make Jay proud. Mal gave a small smile from across the table and carlos was crossed between scowling and smiling back, so he did a weird mixture of both. She shook her head and focused her attention back on ben, who sat at the head of the table. The king and queen were too ‘busy’ to dine with them tonight, everyone else understood but Carlos couldn’t help but to call bullshit.

“There’s also a sports team for tourney!”Ben exclaimed. “Jay, Carlos had mentioned you’re very athletically inclined. I think with the proper training you could be a wonderful addition to the team”

Carlos remembered the prior agreement, Jay needed to keep his grades up to play tournery, if he failed to do so it would mean government school. He couldn’t let that happen, he couldn’t have Jay any farther.

“Tourney?”Jay said tilting his head, “I’ve never heard of it”

“Well it’s this game that…”

Carlos sighed and pushed the peas around his plate, he knew Ben meant well but would the prince ever shut up? He shared a look with Evie who looked about as disinterested as he was, he held his fingers up to his temple in the shape of a gun and she snickered.

“What’s so funny?”Ben said whipping his head around, “Did I make a joke?”

If it wasn’t for the pure look of confusion on his face Carlos would have taken the words as a threat. Poor Ben, he wouldn’t survive a day on the isle.

“No”she said, “On the isle we call this a side conversation, meaning you were not involved with it”

Carlos’ jaw fell agape but all the prince did was nod.

“Side conversation”He said. “I’ll have to remember that”

Dinner carried on in a similar manner and Carlos suddenly felt bad, everyone in Auradon couldn’t be as ignorant as him. He was probably sheltered in this castle his whole life, half the time he couldn’t take a joke, or simply didn’t understand it. Was there more to Ben than school, Auradon and his kingdom? From the way he spoke Carlos couldn’t be too sure.

“What’s up pup?”Jay whispered in his ears, “You’ve got the sad eyes going on”

“Nothing”He assured, “I was just thinking”

“Well they seem pretty into their conversation about Auradon’s history, wanna see if we could slip away?”Jay asked.

“You never fail to read my mind”He smirked. With a quiet ‘excuse us’ they slipped out of their seats and backed out of the grand dining room. The only eyes they caught were Evie’s, fuck. They sure had some explaining to do whenever she escaped the riveting conversation of 17th century Auradon. 

“Did you-”he started.

“See Evie? yes”Jay breathed. “I’m pretty sure she saw us too”

“Pretty sure? I made eye contact”He said, “we’re in deep shit”

“We should just tell her”Jay said, “Mal knows, why are we keeping this a secret?”

“Alright Mal _ just _ found out today”He said “Besides, I care for Evie but I don’t want her mother henning our...our…”

“Relationship?”Jay supplied.

Relationship? If this were a cartoon the blonde would have heart eyes.

“Yeah, our relationship”He said in a dreamy state, “I just wanted to keep it private, something only we get to enjoy. Besides i’m pretty sure if Evie heard you call me baby she’d faint”

“Yeah”Jay chuckled, “Now that I think about it we did make a pretty big leap-not that I regret it!-It’s just...it happened suddenly”  
“You’re fucking oblivious”He said rolling his eyes. “I’ve been flirting with you since you found me”  
“You making eye contact for five seconds and looking away was _ flirting _?”Jay asked.

“Yes!”He exclaimed waving his arms.

“You’re unbelievable”Jay said.

“You’re more unbelievable”He shot back.

“You’re childish”Jay said.

“And so are you, but i’m younger so what’s your excuse?”He asked.

“Asshole”

“Jackass”

“Kiss me”

“Gladly”

“So they just weren’t going to tell me?”Evie said peeking around the corner.

“They were”Mal insisted, “I would have made sure”

“Why would they want to keep this a secret?”She pouted, “We’ve been betting money on this for so long”

“That’s exactly what I said,”Mal said. “Honestly they’re so selfish”

“I could’ve been fifty dollars richer”She said.

“Nu uh”Mal said. “You bet they’d get together within a year of meeting, I bet two. You owe me fifty dollars”

“Bets are stupid”she said.

“They’re only stupid when you’re losing”Mal smirked.

* * *

“Jay...Jay wake up”Carlos whispered. The brunet groaned and simply pulled him closer against his chest. He wanted to stay there forever, under the blanket of the moon and stars it felt like time was frozen, like nothing was real except for the strong arm around him and the beating of his own heart.

“Jayden”he said, “really you gotta wake up”

“Hmm?”Jay hummed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing”he said, “I just need to get back to my room. I still need to pack”

“Are you coming back?”Jay asked.

“Not tonight, I gotta sleep in my own room”He said.

“But I miss you when you’re gone”Jay said sleepily, his eyes were still closed and he was barely speaking above a mumble. “My baby’s gotta stay with me”

“I know”He said, he didn’t want to cry but Jay wasn’t making it any easier. “I’ll miss you too but I'll see you in the morning”

“Can I get a goodnight kiss?”Jay asked sitting up. His eyes were now barely opened and he stared at Carlos expectantly.

“Mmm alright, but this goodnight kiss better not turn into a goodnight hand down my pants”He said.

“Wouldn’t dream of it”Jay said with a cheeky smile. Carlos tilted his head up and caught petal pink lips in his own, true to his word the brunet didn’t take it any further than that. It was sweet and made Carlos’ heart swell so much he was sure it would burst. Pulling away he smiled and caressed Jays cheek.

“My thief”He said.

“Ex-thief”Jay corrected, “My prince of the isle”

“Thats got such a nice ring to it,”he said.

“I bet it does”Jay smirked.

The two sat in silence for a few moments.

“Jay”

“Hmm”

“You need to let go of me”

“Damn it”Jay said, “I was really hoping you forgot”

“Nice try”He said slipping out of the brunets hold, “but I've really got to go now, I'll see you at breakfast”

“I’ll see you,”Jay said. Carlos slipped out of the room and Jay was alone. He became much more aware of the darkness and sighed clutching onto his duvet, it was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this longer chapter. it felt good to write this much again, also if you enjoyed please leave a comment because it really makes me happy


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read end notes

4:45am. It was 4:45am and Jay was wide awake, Carlos was too of course but Jay was awake and  _ livid _ . It had just dawned on him that not only would they be in a completely new environment but they were being separated on top of that. He was not happy to say the least.

“I really think it’s bullshit that we can’t room together”Jay ranted throwing his little possessions into a duffle bag. “I mean why do they just expect us to get along with these princes and princesses? They know that we know that they don’t like us! Why would they force us into such a hostile environment? This is not only ignorant but blatantly inconsiderate of us as people! I mean honestly who’s benefiting from this-!”

Before he knew it a pair of lips were crashing against his own. With a strangled yelp he quickly discarded the bag and held onto the blonde who had jumped on him. His was backed up against the nearest wall and small hands were tugging relentlessly at his ponytail trying to take it out. 

“mmf!”Jay grunted but was hushed and pushed further against the wall. Carlos was small but he was  _ strong _ , one hand had Jay pinned to the wall and his knee was pushing it’s way between the brunets legs. His eyes rolled back and he moaned softly melting against the wall, maybe this is why Carlos liked this so much. He panted and pulled away for a moment leaning his head against the wall.

“Fuck Carlos”he said, “What was that?”

“I don’t know”The blonde said licking his lips, “What you said was just really...really hot”   
His eyes were fluttering shut and he was leaning in again, Jay pushed his cheek and smiled.

“Baby we need to get ready to go, the school is a few hours away”He said.

“Yeah, but...we don’t have to be in the car until 5:30am”The blonde said trailing a hand down his arm, “We can fool around until then”

“You’re so fucking horny”He chuckled and let his hands wander down to the blonde’s hips pulling him closer. “This is the first and last time I'm letting you pin me to a wall”

“Oh yeah”The blonde smiled, “Because it seems like you like it”

Jay ducked his head down and smiled. “That’s not the point, i’m supposed to be the dom here”

“Yeah but if my dom  _ likes _ being pinned against the wall sometimes”he said trailing a hand down his chest. “Who am I to deny him?”

Jay shuddered and bucked his hips against Carlos’ thigh. There was more to it than that, some sort of double meaning but Jay was too fucked out to care.

* * *

The ride to Auradon prep was awkward to say the least. Now Jay has had his fair share of awkward experiences but his best friend of over fourteen years walking in on him giving head was not one he wanted to remember. Neither did he want to remember the suggestive hand gestures and wiggling of the brow that soon followed. Carlos was surprisingly unashamed but Jay was blushing like a catholic school girl. He kept his eyes trained on his feet or the window beside him, what was wrong with him? Dominants were supposed to be confident and unashamed, not bashful and shy. But was he really one to blame for wanting to keep Carlos’ body and his lack of gag reflex between them? 

“Baby?”Carlos said placing a hand on his thigh, “Are you-”

“I’m fine C”he said forcing a smile, “Really”

“Alright”Carlos warily and turned his attention back to an equation he was working on.

Jay made the mistake of glancing around the limo and didn’t fail to lock eyes with Mal who rolled her eyes back and gripped onto the seat. His face flushed and he quickly looked away, he couldn’t ignore the laughter or the burning embarrassment inside of him. 

“Baby?”Carlos whispered directly into his ear. He shook his head firmly and turned away continuing to stare out the window, it was going to be a long drive to Auradon prep.

* * *

It seemed like the world was really just testing his luck today. The minute Jay stepped out of the limo the band ceased to play, the courtyard was dead silent. No matter which way he looked all eyes were on him, all of them. To make matters worse they all looked afraid, teachers clutching their agendas, students trying to back away as quietly as possible, to them he was a monster.

“Uh...welcome to Auradon prep”Ben said awkwardly. “I’ll show you to your dorms”

From that moment on Jay made it a point to himself that he wouldn’t let his guard down. This was like the isle but worse, a new playing field with rules he didn’t know how to bend yet. He would need to learn the ins and outs and fast, this was no longer just high school, this was survival. This school was going to make or break him and well, Jay would rather die than let Auradon win. 

* * *

“What do you mean I can’t dorm with Mal?”He said through gritted teeth. “I’m a dom, she’s a dom, tell me what the problem is?”

“Well um we usually don’t let male and female dominants dorm together”fairy godmother said carefully. “This is the age when hormones are just flying around and we’d like to keep our teen pregnancy rate at 0%”

“Excuse my language but this is bullshit”He said. “You think any of these  _ princes _ want to room with me? They’re all afraid of me! Mal is my best friend of Hades knows how many years and you just want to take that away from me? Also, last time I checked-and believe me I checked-this is a co-ed school so please don’t try that with me”   
“Your disregard for authority is concerning”She said thoughtfully. “How was your behaviour in-”

“It was fine!”He snapped. “I’m tired of you royal assholes thinking just by taking us off that floating rock you’re saints! Throwing us into this new place and-and just expecting us to assimilate is fucking evil! I-I-ugh!”

He was pissed, his hands were shaking as he clenched them at his side. On this isle this would have already been settled, he wouldn’t have to deal with this-

“Jay”Mal said softly.

“What!?”He hissed.

“Your eyes man...they’re red”she said. The fire that was lit inside of him was immediately blown out and replaced by panic, oh no.

“Red like...like...:”He said

“Like Jafars”Fairy godmother supplied, “It seems like that apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree”

“That’s it!”He growled lunging at her.

“Jay!”Mal shouted pulling at his shoulders, before he could land a good punch he was tumbling to the ground.

It was going to be a long day indeed.

* * *

He didn’t win this fight, of course he didn’t. But he did end up rooming with a girl named Lonnie and a period dedicated to resolving his ‘anger issues’. He scoffed, he didn’t have anger issues, he just had a breaking point for bullshit. He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, he felt so... _ alone _ . Carlos was on the other side of campus, Evie was also on the other side of campus and Mal was in a separate building across the tourney field. His fragile sense of security was thrown way off and to be honest, he didn’t know what to do. He felt like he was five years old again, afraid and angry. How could fairy godmother do this to him? He knows he didn’t show it but Mal was like the older sister he never had, whenever mama and baba were arguing they would hang out at the hideout. When jafar was cracking on his ass for going to school she convinced maleficent to tell Jafar that raising an idiot would get them nowhere. When his mother died...she’s the only one who saw him cry. He sniffled and quickly covered it with a cough looking around the room. When he felt like everything was meaningless and he almost took a swim with tick tock croc she sat with him on the plank and rattled off about how one day they’ll be in Auradon and they’ll be happy.

Well they were in Auradon.

And he wasn’t happy.

He was spiralling, he knew it. Down a dark path he knew and remembered all too well. A path he swore, he  _ promised _ to never walk down after tick tock croc. But it was appealing, in his own mind the dark path was littered with golden apples and valuable trinkets. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to stroll down that path again, it was beautiful. Trees the color of his flesh and leaves the beautiful color of crimson, it wouldn’t hurt to just  _ indulge _ for a moment. To give in to the taunting he’s tried so hard to shove to the back of his mind.  _ Because you’re weak _ , the little voice hissed.  _ You can only hide it for so long! _ It cackled,  _ weak and insane, weak and insane, weak and insane, weak an- _

“Stop it!”He screamed pulling at his hair, “fucking stop it!”

No one was here, he was alone. Down the golden apple path and the crimson leaves practically bleeding from the trees.  _ Weak and insane, weak and insane, weak and isane _

“Please!”he sobbed scratching at his arms, “mama!”

But it was the middle of the day, no one would hear him. They were all in classes or in the dining hall far far away from Jay. He knew not to wander down this path but god was it tempting. He tucked his knees up to his chest and continued to scratch until the leaves trickled down his arms onto the blue duvet, or maybe the duvet was red and he was bleeding blue? He didn’t know anymore but god it felt sickeningly good, familiar. If he couldn’t can’t have his family, at least he had this.

“Fuck”He whispered feeling his eyes grow heavy. Deep down he was panicking, had he gone too far? Was he bleeding too much? But he couldn’t bring himself to worry, all of this unnecessary worry was happening outside of the path.

And what happened outside of the path was no longer his problem.

Letting his eyes shut, he fell into asleep, whatever happened outside of the path was no longer his problem. Little did he know this sweet path led to a cliff, even more tempting than the isle water holding tick tock croc.

* * *

_ “Jafar this has got to stop.”she said firmly. A little boy no taller than the dip of her hip was clutching at her skirt with one hand and rubbing his cheek with the other. The ex-vizier sneered and took a step forward, she took a step back. The boy stumbled back as well and looked up at her with wide almond shaped eyes. _

_ “Uh uh uh”He said menacingly. “Come here” _

_ She and the boy took a step forward, he narrowed his beady eyes. “Leave the boy” _

_ His bottom lip wobbled and she quickly shushed him playing with his hair, “It’s alright, Jay” _

_ Her voice was calm, he nodded and let go of her skirt. Once she was in an arm's length Jafar quickly caught her chin in his grasp, she gasped and tried to turn her head. _

_ “Who makes the rules in this house?”He asked. _

_ “You..”She said. _

_ “So why do you think you get a say!”His voice boomed. Jay scurried back and tripped over his footing falling flat on his butt. _

_ “Jafar enough”She said. “I’m tired of you treating me like this” _

_ “I treat you fine”He scoffed. _

_ “Don’t be foolish!”She snapped, Jay gasped. Mama never raised her voice, especially not at baba. _

_ “Run that by me one more time, meena my dear”He said, his sharp nails dug even deeper into her chin. _

_ “I said don’t be foolish”She said staring him directly in his eyes. “The way you treat me-the way you treat Jay, is unacceptable. You said you’d treat me like royalty Jafar, all I see is you treating me like the rest of the scum on this...this place!” _

_ “You could have stayed!”He roared. “You could have stayed and secured us a place on the throne-” _

_ “I do not care for the throne!”she screamed. “I loved you!” _

_ “Continue raising your voice at me Ameena and we will have a grave problem”He said lowly. _

_ “You wouldn’t dare hurt me Jafar”she said, “I gave you a son! A beautiful, healthy son!” _

_ “The boy is weak!”He exclaimed, “He will be of no use to me, you baby him!”  _

_ “No”She said, “I love him” _

_ “You love him?”He asked. “That can’t be possible, you love me” _ _   
_

_ “I love you both”She said. _

_ “Again that can’t be possible because you love me”He sneered. _

_ “He’s my son”she said stubbornly. _

_ “I own you”He said. “Choose me or the boy” _

_ “Jafar-” _

_ “Choose!”He shouted and she flinched. _

_ “I choose Jay”she whispered, he let out a noise of disgust and pushed her to the ground. _

_ “Watch yourself Ameena, you step out of line again and your precious Jay will be gone,”he said, with that the front door was slammed and Jafar was gone. Jay was in tears, he couldn’t stop the onslaught of emotions. Snot was running down his face and the wail he let out could rival a cop car. _

_ “Shhhh shhh”she said scooting over to him, “You’re okay, mama is here” _

_ “Ma-mama, baba!-”He hiccuped and cut himself off with another sob. _

_ “Oh hush jay jay, come,”she said. He nodded and crawled into her lap. _

_ “What is here?”She said pointing to his chest. _

_ “My heart”He sniffled. _

_ “You’ll be in my heart-”she sang playfully. _

_ “M-mama stop!”he giggled trying to cover her mouth. _

_ “Yes you’ll be in my heart”She sang swaying him. “Hmmm, I can’t remember what comes next, Jay?” _

_ “Always!”he grinned. _

_ “Always”She sang. “For one so small, you seem so strong…” _

“Mama?”He whispered harshly sitting up in bed, the room around him was submerged in darkness and he had a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. He quickly looked to his right to see Lonnie fast asleep in bed, he let out a sigh of relief. Good, he wasn’t sure what he would do if his little outburst woke her up. She was...she was right there in front of him, maybe he was going crazy but he swears he heard her voice. Taking a deep breath he laid back down and winced as his raw arm rubbed against the duvet.

“Why did I do that?”He groaned. The damage had been done and now he had to deal with the constant reminder for the next month or so. He couldn’t let Mal know because she’d be disappointed, Evie would just tell Mal and Carlos...no he couldn’t worry Carlos, he was stressed enough and dealing with his own problems. Jay huffed and rolled out of bed tip toeing to the bathroom, the least he could do was clean it. Flicking on the light he got a quick glimpse of his face and balked, tears were not a good look on him. His pupils were still a faint shade of red and he sucked his teeth, he hated when this happened. Now everyone would think he was a bigger freak because his eyes were red. He flipped on the faucet and barely flinched when scalding hot water made contact with the cuts.

“Maybe I'm a little desensitized”he mumbled to himself and quickly turned the knob to cold. He relished in the feeling and grabbed one of the fancy towels dabbing it dry, pink stains were left in place and he resisted every urge to have another meltdown. Nothing was going right-he looked through the cabinet and huffed-they didn’t even have rubbing alcohol!

“I’m going to sc-”

“What are you doing up so late?”A groggy voice said. He yelped and quickly hid both his arm and the towel behind his back.  _ Smooth jay, real smooth  _ he thought bitterly.

“H-hey Lonnie”he said, “I was just...washing my hands”

“At 1am?”She asked folding her arms.

“It’s an isle thing”he supplied weakly. “Cleanliness is close to evilness or however that damn saying goes, if you’ll excuse me-”

“Bullshit”She said. He audibly gasped, princesses swear?

“I’m sorry?”He said furrowing his brows.

“I said bullshit, what’s behind your back?”She said.

“A towel”He said evenly.

“May I see the towel?”She said raising a brow. He quickly swapped hands and showed her the towel with his left hand.

“Uh huh just a towel, nothing odd-”

“Show me your other arm”She said narrowing her eyes.

“I mean I get that I'm attractive but you’re being incredibly forward-”

“Jay show me the damn arm!”She snapped, “I’m tired and I want to go to bed!”

He sighed and slowly pulled his other arm from behind his back.

“Oh my god”She whispered, “Jay...what happened?”

“I slipped”He said and swallowed the lump in his throat.

“You slipped?”She said, “That’s the lamest excuse in the book, Jay what happened?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything”He said, “if you’ll excuse me, I'm going to bed”

“Jay I will tell an adult”She threatened. He stopped dead in his tracks.

“You wouldn’t”He said.

“Oh but I would”she said.

“I’m supposed to be the evil one,”he said.

“Yeah but you obviously aren’t”she rolled her eyes, “Now I get that you don’t know me and I don’t know you but you’re obviously hurting and that...It just doesn’t sit well with me! So please start talking”

“Lonnie I can’t”He said almost begging, then everything clicked. 

_ “I just can’t”Carlos said. “Jay I would tell you but it doesn’t make sense, nothing makes sense!” _

_ “Then make it make sense!”Jay huffed. “You’re so smart, figure it out” _

He understood, and Hades was he an asshole. He sighed and brought a hand up to rub his face, he was a fucking asshole and this, this was the lesson he was supposed to learn. Things always came back to bite him in the ass but this was just cruel-

“Jay!”Lonnie said snapping her fingers

“Hmm?”He said letting his vision slide back into focus.

“Jesus, I-you-go to sleep”She resigned. “You’re obviously out of it, but we will be talking about this in the morning”

“Fine”He said.

“Fine”She said and briskly walked back into the bedroom, “Oh and Jay!”

“Yes?”He sighed.

“Ace bandages are under the sink!”

He smiled, he wasn’t sure he could trust this Lonnie but this girl at least knew her stuff. Maybe rooming with her wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! I'm sorry for the long wait but I hope you enjoyed this chapter! please leave a comment if you did because it makes me really happy


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello to all! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you could please leave a comment that would make me really happy. Tell me how you feel about Anna's boys because you'll definitely being seeing more of them

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Carlos was thriving. In the following week and with the help of a guidance counselor-he’d learned to navigate the damning stares. The only minor setback was his age dilemma, the faculty didn’t quite know what grade to place him in, despite him testing into the advanced placement program in the junior class. He’d asked-no  _ begged  _ to be placed in the junior class with the rest of his friends, but here he sits in the sophomore History class completely and utterly bored.  _ It won’t be permanent _ they said,  _ you’ll only be here until we sort this out _ . It wasn’t too bad he supposed, he took junior level math with Mal and Jay, and was currently reviewing notes to test into AP chemistry class with Evie. He smiled to himself as he doodled little beakers along his paper, he was proud of his girl. 

Things at Auradon prep were different but also more of the same. You had your populars,your sports fanatics,your geeks and your outcasts. The theatre kids were loud but welcoming and the visual arts kids were surprisingly intimidating- _ never  _ ask to borrow one of their fancy markers-he sadly had to learn this the hard way. He still sat alone though, he liked it better that way. Mal,Jay and Evie had first lunch so it’s not like he could’ve sat with them anyways. He bit his lip and carefully thought out his next equation, it wasn’t copper and it definitely wasn’t sulfur…-

“Mr.De Vil”the teacher said rapping her ruler on the desk, “Who are the founders of this particular kingdom?”

“I don’t care”he said under his breath continuing the equation, now it wasn’t sulfur...

“What was that?”She said raising a brow.

“King Adam and Queen Belle”he sighed, “It was founded twenty years ago because the King and Queen wanted to unite the neighboring kingdoms, most kingdoms did in fact join except for Arendelle.” She hummed and pursed her lips together.

“Correct, but I expect you to pay more attention”She said and turned her attention back to the board. He let out a sigh of relief and continued his notes, he needed to get into AP Chemistry.

* * *

On the other hand, Jay was not experiencing the same triumph. The feeling of everyone’s eyes on him in the hallway made his skin crawl. He clenched his fists around the straps of his backpack and held his head high, he couldn’t let them know it was affecting him. He let his hand slip down and gently patted his thigh feeling a curved handle. Now he  _ knows _ he shouldn’t have it on school property, and he  _ knows _ that this could get him into deep shit, but he didn’t care. It brought him some sense of comfort. Some kids had pacifiers and blankies, Jay had his knife. It was a beautiful thing really, the handle carved into the head of a cobra, two ruby jewels acting as the eyes. It’s name was syre, and it always kept him safe. Bringing his hand back to the strap he squeezed and followed the agonizing process of checking and squeezing until he had made his way to the cafeteria.

If all eyes weren’t on him before, they were now. Never has a chill crept up his spine, not even the multitude of times he stared death in the face and it stared right back. Princes and Princesses in their pastels all staring curiously, waiting. The fairy godmother argument was spread across the school in an armada of hushed tones so he was already known for his temper which wasn’t good. This was not how you made a first impression-Hades, as an isle kid does he even have the right to a first impression? From the looks of fear and the few girls in the corner of the room trying to quickly and quietly leave was answer enough. He stood frozen for a few moments and squeezed his bandaged arm trying desperately to feel something other than afraid. Pain, pain was something he was used to, something he could feel without a second thought. Hell, if he had to put it frankly pain was his home. Now fear, it was something to be feared in its own oxymoronic right. No fear wasn’t allowed to be felt, it was supposed to be masked behind flirtations and a charming smile until the feeling was numbed and he could breathe again. He squeezed his arm against his side and took a shaky deep breath pressing on, he would be fine, this moment could be forgotten.

Finding his usual lunch table he kept his eyes trained on his sneakers and waited for Mal or Evie to come. In their usual fashion they did, Mal donning overalls covered in colorful splashes of paint and Evie scribbling furiously trying to make corrections to a test that was damn near perfect.

“Hey Jay”they said in unison. He nodded in response and let the girls tell him about their eventful days. Evie was getting commissions to make gowns for the summer solstice ball and Mal took it upon herself to join the art club, they were ‘just her type of people’,broody and sarcastic. _ Of course they were her type of people, _ he thought. Evie proudly boasted about a perfect score on her in-class atoms project and Jay felt his cheeks pinken, they were in the same group for that, and he failed. He nodded along and gave her a thumbs up feeling his eyes slip just the teeniest bit out of focus.

“What’s wrong?”Mal said.

“Nothing, my stomach just hurts”he lied, “I think I finally found something I couldn’t eat”

“Well what was it?”Evie said, “You might be allergic.”

“Oh-um, it was just some blueberries”He waved off.

“Okay”Mal said, “don’t eat anymore blueberries then”

“Will do”He said giving a cheesy grin.

_ Great _ , he thought.  _ Now I can’t eat blueberries. _

“Anyways! I’ve been trying to find the perfect, blue and green fabrics for Tilly and Tanya…”Evie rambled. Jay gave affirming hums and nods while mal tuned out and sketched the welcome banner.

In a way this was nice, it gave his racing mind a break, maybe this is why Carlos preferred to listen...

* * *

“Sir this grade is unacceptable”The blonde said shaking his head, “I did specifically what you asked for”

“Carlos…”The teacher sighed, “I asked for a creative engineering piece, don’t get me wrong the math is flawless and so is the design but...it isn’t creative”

“Why does it need to be creative?”He scoffed, “If the math is right, what's the point in creativity?”

“In this school we value our arts just as much as our academics”the teacher said with a small smile.

“But how will the arts, get me into college?”He said crossing his arms.

“We’re not trying to produce academic machines, the goal is to make sure all of our students are well rounded”the teacher said.

“But if i’m not an academic machine how am I supposed to get into college? If I don’t get into college they’ll-”He cut himself off and took a deep breath. “I think we both know what will happen if I don't get into college, i’m only here on a student scholarship”

“Take a seat”The teacher said ignoring the strange look, “come on”

He hesitantly sat in one of the chairs.

“This isn’t going to be the answer you want to hear”The teacher sighed, “But it’s the answer you need. Carlos, you’re a bright student, one of the brightest in the engineering classes if i’m being frank. You show up early, you finish early and you stay late, this is admirable behavior. But, the one thing you need to do is trust the process-”

He sighed.

“No no no, hear me out”The teacher said, “You stressing about getting into college and neglecting the creative work that you need to do is doing more harm than good. Colleges don’t want students who are only good at academics, they want well rounded students who contribute to the community as well. Now I would suggest a sport or band but you don’t seem to be interested”

_ Good _ , Carlos thought.

“But I will suggest the debate club,”the teacher said, “You’re very smart but you’re also argumentative, putting those two together would make for a great debater”

Arguing for...fun? He furrowed his brows and tentatively got up from his seat.

“Listen Mr.Thatch...I don’t think debating is for me, I’ll just join the cooking club or something”He said shaking his head.

“Just consider it, also Carlos”Mr.Thatch said.

“Yes?”He said.

“One A- won’t kill you”

* * *

“Jay!”Lonnie said chasing after the ex-thief, “you said we would talk!”

Doing his best to ignore her he kept his head down and continued his walk towards the dorms. It had been a long day and all he wanted was to sleep.

“Jay!”She exclaimed, “You can’t just ignore me, we’re going to the same place!”

“Then why are you trying to talk about it out here!?”He snapped gesturing around violently.

“Because I've been trying to talk to you all week!”She said stubbornly, “You won’t even let me walk with you!”   


“Why would I?”He said and continued walking.

“Because that’s what friends do!”She said. 

Friends? He stopped in his tracks and turned around giving her enough time to catch up.

“We are not  _ friends _ , I don’t have  _ friends _ . I have family,”he said.

“Wha..what d’you mean you..you don’t have friends?”She panted supporting herself on her knees. “I see you hanging out with the other isle kids a lot, aren’t those your friends?”

“Family”He said curtly _ , well besides Carlos, that would be gross _ . He scrunched his nose up and shook the thought from his head.

“You guys don’t look related”She said, he scoffed.

“I don’t know what you do here in Auradon but on the isle, family doesn’t mean blood”

And honestly he was tired of explaining himself, before she could continue speaking he was off again. It was the pace he used when he stole, not too slow, but not fast enough that it was suspicious.

And maybe old habits do die hard.

People here felt just a little too safe and tended to leave their things lying around. Let’s just say bags were ridiculously easy to open and Carlos needed a new bracelet. After an empty promise of meeting a girl in the lunchroom, he tucked the silver beaded jewelry into his pocket and faltered, feeling it again he scrunched his nose up in disgust, it was fake. He wouldn’t give Carlos fake jewelry, he gently pushed it out of his pocket, almost as if it had been an accident and kept walking. Maybe the girl would find it, maybe she wouldn’t. 

It also wasn’t as satisfying in Auradon. There wasn’t any feeling of besting the person, it felt like stealing candy from a baby. The sound of Lonnie’s insistent screeching shot him out of his daydreaming, as the dorm came into vision he sighed. This was going to be a long evening.

* * *

Carlos huffed and slammed the door shut behind him.  _ An A- _ , he thought and scrunched his nose up,  _ how could anyone live with an A-?  _ He was so lost in thought that he didn’t realize the bed across from him was no longer vacant but now occupied,  _ very _ occupied. Three boys were roughhousing and laughing amongst themselves. He let his bag drop to the floor and sniffed the air, it smelled like Jay and Mal so it meant that one of them was a dominant. Slightly uncomfortable he sat on his own bed he waited for them to realize his presence. It took a few more minutes and him sliding a book of his desk but finally, they paused and looked towards the noise. In perfect unison their eyes looked up from the book towards the blonde boy in varying hues of blue, brown and green.

“Oh”The ginger one said, “Hi, you must be my roommate”

“Uh huh…”Carlos said carefully. The ginger stood up and crossed the small space between the two with a toothy grin.

“I’m Finneus, but please call me Finn”He said extending his hand. Carlos took the hand but took the three seconds it took to shake his hand to size him up. Tall with a strong build and friendly. If need be Carlos could take him down.

“Carlos De Vil”Carlos said and let his hand fall to his side. He eased back on his bed thinking that was it but obviously Finn had a lot more to say.

“I’m sorry about the noise, I needed my brothers help unpacking”He said sheepishly, “Brothers introduce yourselves”   
The boys stood and stared, Carlos almost rolled his eyes. He was going to say it was fine but Finn scowled at them with a hand on his hip.

“Don’t be fucking rude”he snapped, “You know what mom said, introduce yourselves”

“Luka”The blonde said bluntly. _ He must be the dom _ , Carlos thought.

“I’m Isak”The brunet said softly with a gentle smile, “sorry about that, I was just…”

“Surprised?”Carlos supplied, “Yeah I get that, I would be too if the son of a villain was in my room”

There was silence.  _ Well there was no avoiding it _ , Carlos thought bitterly, t _ hey can’t hide in their safety bubble forever. _

“Well I guess we’re just murdering the elephant in the room”Finn mumbled.

“U-um yeah”Isak said fiddling with his fingers, “But I'm not afraid of you”

What.

“Pardon?”Carlos said tilting his head.

“I said I’m not afraid of you”He said, “You haven’t given me any reason to be”

“Oh um...okay”Carlos said evenly, that was not the answer he was expecting. He wasn’t even sure if it was the answer he wanted. The horrified stares had given him a sense of importance, now he was back on the same playing field whether he liked it or not.

“So…”Carlos said trying to ease themselves out of the silence, “You already know my parents, who are yours?”

“Princess Anna and Prince Kristoff of Arendelle”Finn said, “But us being princes is kind of a courtesy title-”

“Don’t tell him that!”Luka hissed.

Finn narrowed his eyes and continued, “Since our mother isn’t a prince she doesn’t get to pass on the title. So technically we’re just ordinary people, our aunt Elsa is the Queen”

Carlos gave a lopsided grin, he could get used to Finn, he seemed cool. “So it’s basically just a nickname?”

“Basically”Isak chuckled, “We don’t even use our title back home, our mom just addresses us as ‘boys!’”he said imitating her in a high pitched voice. Finn fell back on the bed with a giggle and even for a split second he saw Luka crack a smile.

“Well why are you guys getting here so late?”Carlos asked, “School started last week”

“We may not be princes but we usually do have royal matters to attend to,”Luka said stiffly.

“And what was this royal matter?”Carlos asked.

“Forgetting what day school started and waiting until mom realized it wasn’t summer break”He said solemnly. Him and Carlos stared at each other until the two snickered and fell back in laughter.

“Oh my Hades!”Carlos wheezed clapping his hands, “That was great!”

“You guys say oh my Hades?”Finn giggled.

“Well duh”Carlos said, “What else would you say?”   


“Oh my god?”Isak supplied.

“That’s so boring”Carlos said, “and besides there’s so many”   


“So many?”Luka said tilting his head, “What gods do you believe in?”

“Hades, and Ares, I think Zeus and Athena are-”

“No no no”Luka said tilting his head, “like religion”

“Religion?”Carlos said mimicking the other blonde, “On the isle we don’t really do religion…”

“You guys don’t wonder who created this world?”Finn said curiously.

He had to choose his words carefully, he didn’t want pity. “We don’t really have much time for wondering. We know what we can see, and the gods I can see are what’s real to me”

“Oh...okay then”Isak said.

The conversation had taken another serious turn and this time Carlos didn’t know how to fix it.

“So...who’s hungry? There should be snacks in the cafeteria-”

That’s all they needed to hear, soon enough three teenage boys were racing out of the dorm and down the hallway. Carlos shook his head and ran after them.

“Hey wait up!”

He hadn’t really been expecting one but he could get used to this new roommate...and maybe the brothers that came along with him.


	14. Chapter 14

**Monday**

One minute Jay was walking down the hallway towards Mr.Thatcher’s class and the next he was being pulled into an abandoned staircase. He tensed and just as quick he had the person pinned against the wall and his hand on his knife. What dumbass had the balls to pull this with him at 9:00am? As soon as his eyes shifted into focus he realized it was his dumbass staring back at him with a smirk.

“Not gonna lie, that was kind of hot”Carlos panted and licked his lips. And for once, Jay smiled. Something about seeing that lazy grin and those brown eyes made him want to smile until his cheeks hurt. It was a genuine one too, not the one he put on for show but the one that made his eyes crinkle and showed all of his teeth.

“Mmm what's got you so smiley?”The blonde said softly, he brought a hand up gently stroked the apple of his cheek with his thumb. Jay almost melted, moments like this were starting to become far and few. Honestly, he didn’t realize how much he missed them. He had gotten so used to harboring all this anger he forgot what it was like to be soft and just smile.

“You”he answered.

“Me?”Carlos said, “Come on, it can’t just be me, were there mangoes again in the cafeteria?”

The brunet chuckled and shook his head. He let his hands wander until they found the blonde’s waist and pulled him close.

“What’s wrong baby?”Carlos asked, practically being forced against the brunets chest.

“Nothing...nothing, just wanna hug”He mumbled, letting his head rest atop the smaller boys head.

“I missed you too”Carlos said quietly. The two stood like that until the starting bell rang and well after they were late for class.

“C’mon”Carlos sighed, “As much as I wanna stand here and hug you, we’ve got class”

“Can’t we just skip?”He whined in a soft tone. “I miss my pup”

The blonde’s eyes visibly softened and he grasped the hand grabbing his waist, intertwining their fingers. “You know it’s been a while since you’ve called me pup”

“Well I used to call you baby but  _ someone _ stole it”He said narrowing his eyes. Carlos shook his head and began pulling him in the direction of the classroom.

“Well  _ I _ think it suits you”Carlos said with a smile, “my big baby”

“Oh fuck off!”He exclaimed, Carlos giggled and let go of his hand with a taunting grin. “Catch me if you can..just like the isle”

“You’re on!”Jay said, and just like that they were off racing down the hall.

* * *

“What...what do you mean I can’t join the tourney team?”Jay asked softly. He hadn’t meant to come off so meek but at this point he was tired.

“We’ve got enough players for this school year”The coach said, “It’s May son, there will always be more positions next year”

“But you don’t understand!-”Jay said and abruptly cut himself off.

“Don’t understand what?”The coach asked.

_ This is the only thing I'm good at _ , Jay thought.

“Nothing”He said quickly turning away from the tourney field.

The walk to the dorms made his heart feel heavy, everyone who passed by was on their way to or from something. The cheerleaders along with their tourney boy hookups on the way to the field, the band geeks lugging their instruments around, everyone had a place to be. All Jay did was go to class and go back to his dorm, he felt isolated. Mal was working on decorations for the spring ball,Evie was up to her neck in gowns and Carlos...Carlos was trying to make something of himself. He opened the door to his room and shut it behind him with a sigh, in moments like this he knew one thing he could do. He cleared his throat and hummed softly doing a few experimental scales. It had been a while since he’d last sang, at least for real. He would hum to a tune here and there or shout out some lyrics but he hadn’t sung since...since his mother had been around. He peeked outside the window and made sure the door was locked one last time before letting the hum meld into words.

“And I'd give up forever to touch you, cause I know that you feel me somehow…”He sang pacing the room. He tried to clear his mind but all he could think of was Carlos, the moment they shared that moment.

“You’re the closest to heaven that I'll ever be and I don’t wanna go home right now…”

But he did, the thoughts were back again and damn it maybe things were easier on the isle. They were hungry,and slumming it but at least they had each other.

“And all I can taste is this moment, and all I can breathe is your life…”

He was getting choked up.

“And sooner or later it’s over. I just don’t wanna miss you tonight…”

A single tear slipped down his cheek and he cut the song short.

He was done singing for now.

“This…”he sniffled sitting on the edge of his bed, “This is why I don’t do this”

* * *

“Carlos”Finn said welcoming himself to a seat on the blonde’s bed.

“Hmm?”he hummed looking up from his assignment. It was hard work but Junior level chemistry has never been sweeter.

“Do you um...do you believe that a man can love another man?”Finn asked in a hushed tone.

“Of course, why?”He asked putting down his pencil.

“Really?”Finn asked, his brown eyes were shining.

“I mean yeah, why should gender be an issue?”He asked.

“You’re so naive”Finn said shaking his head dismissively. “Things in Auradon are well...different. We’ve got religion and with religion usually comes well...homophobia”

“Homo what?”He asked tilting his head.

“People who dislike gay people”Finn supplied.

“And gay people are men who like men?”He asked slowly

“Or women who like women, although they're called lesbi-that’s not the point!”Finn said quickly.

“Then what is the point? If it wasn’t to give me a lesson in human sexuality then what is it?”He said. He knew that Finn knew and Finn knew that he knew but he needed to hear it.

“I um…”Finn said trailing off.

“It’s alright, take your time”He said soothingly, he placed his homework on the side table and made more space on the bed. Junior level chemistry would have to wait. Finn wordlessly scooted further onto the bed and tucked his knees up to his chest.

“I um…”Finn continued, “I thought that I just liked women...but at the beginning of this school year I um..I met this boy”

“Uh huh”He said.

“He’s one of Tiana’s sons and he just...he lights up whatever room he enters. He’s got this beautiful smile and we like all the same things, he’s the best thing that could have happened to me”Finn said with a soft sigh.

“That sounds amazing Finn”He said. He wouldn’t admit it but it made him a little misty eyed to see someone speak with so much adoration.

“Yeah, he is”Finn said, “But my parents-we...we’re Catholic and these feelings just aren’t allowed”   
“Catholic is a religion?”He asked.

“Y-yeah”Finn said shakily. “I don’t even know why i’m telling you this, I-I just couldn’t tell my brothers because!-”

“Hey”He said softly, “Take a deep breath, no one is mad at you”

Finn nodded and took a few deep breaths gripping at the duvet.

“Now tell me more about what’s bugging you”He said.

“It’s just I'm catholic and he’s baptist, what we have could never be allowed and it...it fucking sucks Carlos!”

That’s when the dams broke. Finn let out a sob and brought his hands up to his head fisting at his hair.

“Hey hey no”He scolded gently prying at Finn’s hands.

“I don’t wanna be like this! I don’t!”Finn sobbed. “I just wanna be normal!”

“And what is normal?”He asked.

“N-not like me! They say i’m gonna burn in hell!”

Yikes, it seems like hell was a universal place and Carlos winced.

“They say that just for who you like?”He asked. He couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

“I just...wanna be normal”Finn hiccuped, “I didn’t ask to be like this and year after year I tried not to give into temptation but I can’t help it!”

“Finn enough!”He snapped, Auradon Carlos took the backseat and Isle Carlos began driving.

Finn whimpered and looked up at him.

“You can not help who you love. I may not understand this religion stuff but man you gotta realize that you live for you. The one thing I know about sexuality is that you have no control over it. I find women beautiful but I have no desire to fuck or date one because that’s not who I am. If you like both that’s fine and if nobody else will accept that you tell them they have to answer to me!”He ranted.

Finn nodded and wiped at his eyes taking in the information.

“Now go wash your face, I’m taking you to the cafeteria for ice cream”He said.

“Tha-”   
“Please don’t thank me”He cringed, “Just do what I said”

Finn rolled off the bed and walked into the bathroom. The minute the door clicked shut Carlos groaned and dropped his head in his hands.

Auradon was a lot more fucked up than he thought.

* * *

“So…”Lonnie said sitting criss cross on her bed, “you’re still giving me the silent treatment?”

Jay didn’t answer, of course he was. If he was notorious for anything it was fits of rage and holding grudges. She sighed and pulled her blanket around her shoulders, the weather was warming up but the night air was cool.

“What’s up with that blonde kid?”She asked.

“What about him?”He huffed.

“He’s Cruella’s son right?”She asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?”He retorted.

“How long are you going to keep up this cruel act, huh?”She asked.

“What act?”He scoffed.

“This whole ‘I'm a heartless jerk and I don’t have feelings’ act”She said, “You’re not going to make friends that way”

“I don’t need friends”He said.

“I think you’re just scared”She said.

“What?”He asked.

“I think you’re just scared to let your guard down. In my psychology cl-”

“Lonnie you’re pushing my buttons”He warned.

“We learned that anger and hostility is used as a defense mechanism-”

“Listen here”He said firmly, his body was shaking. “I don’t give a single fuck about your psychology class. I let my guard down around people who deserve it, not nosy princesses who don’t know how to leave people alone!”

“Y-your eyes”She gasped. He groaned and ran a hand over his face.

“I already know, they do that when people piss me off”He growled.

“Jay, I-I didn’t me-”   
“Don’t you fucking lie”He hissed, “There’s nothing I hate more than a liar, do you know what we do to liars on the isle?”

She quickly shook her head.

“Good you don’t want to”He said.

“I...I just want to be your friend…”She said softly.

“I don’t need friends”He repeated. He’d had enough, pulling on his shoes he walked out of the dorm. This time no screams of protest, no chasing, no nothing, he was finally alone. The black sky and stars around him were welcoming as he walked to the tourney field. It was after curfew but what did it matter? The worst they could do is expel him.

* * *

“Jay?”Mal whispered peeking into the corridor. “What are you doing here? It’s after curfew”

The brunet took in a shaky breath and felt his knees buckle underneath him. 

“Help me”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! I know this chapter is long overdue but I hope you do enjoy! leave a comment if you wish


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! I apologize for the long wait but I hope you enjoy!

There it was. The two words that he had been afraid to say, the two words that meant the difference between strength and weakness. And he knew the exact moment he said them, he chose weakness. He sat back on his heels too tired to even attempt climbing back to his feet and held his hands palm up on his thighs. With a shaky sigh he tilted his head back until his throat was bared and his eyes were facing the ceiling. It had an old, almost archaic meaning that was ingrained into his brain years ago. When the isle of the lost was first established and villains were still burning hot with wicked ways this was how you weeded out ones you could possibly trust. It showed you were harmless and most importantly, it made you vulnerable. 

Mal took a tentative step forward and tilted his head back into an upright position, looking him dead in his eyes. The exchange went unspoken, she knew why he was here. She helped him to his feet and led him inside locking the door behind her, the bed across from hers was abandoned so whoever was here must’ve left. The entire time Jay kept his eyes trained on his feet, this didn’t feel real, nothing felt real. It felt like he was twelve years old again getting ready to jump into the unforgiving waters and never being heard from again. She took a seat on the bed and patted the spot next to her, he sat almost robotically and kicked off his shoes.

“Do you um...do you wanna talk?”she asked quietly. He shook his head and ran over his face, god he didn’t realize how exhausted he was. She nodded and scooted further up on the bed extending her arms, he nodded. He was now double her size but he clambered onto the bed and let her wrap her arms around him. It was a foreign feeling really, the last person he’d hugged like this was Carlos but it was...it was nice. He let out a shaky breath and felt the weight of everything that’s happened in the past few weeks,the past few years,his entire life resurface until he popped. A single tear slipped down his cheek, until one became two and two became two dozen. His face remained stoic but his body shook almost violently with tremors, this was one of the rare times he allowed himself to feel anything but anger. Of course he was still angry but on top of that, he was sad. His heart was shattered from years of neglect and grief, it was a miracle he was still standing. His face scrunched up and he let out a quiet sob pulling his knees up to his chest, Mal just squeezed him tighter and rocked them back and forth.

“I hate him Mal”he gritted out between choked breaths, “I-I fu-fucking hate him”

“I know”she soothed and rubbed his back.

“H-He”He hiccuped and his face twisted until it almost hurt, “H-He took ever-everything from me.”

In the dead of night all that could be heard from the dorms was the sound of sniffles and a gentle shushing, so light it could have been the wind.

* * *

The two woke up well into the morning, tangled in one another. The blanket had been disregarded and Jay was drooling on Mal’s shoulder. She grimaced and pushed at his face trying to sit up, but boy was it hard when you had a hench man-child cuddling you like a teddy bear.

“Jay”she croaked and thumped his forehead, “Jay wake up”

“Hmm?”He grumbled.

“Get up”She said, “you’re not supposed to be here”

“Oh fuck”He hissed and let go of her pushing himself up. Fuck they were going to get in so much trouble if anyone found out. He tried his best to ignore her gaze as he swung his legs over the side of the best desperately trying to to find his socks.

“What?”he said not even bothering to look at her, “I can feel you staring”

“Are you okay?”She asked gently, there was a certain tenderness to it that made his stomach churn.

“Yeah”he breathed, “I’m always okay”

Like always, the conversation was left there to die, withering away until one of them forgot the night even happened. He found his socks and pulled them on, not even bothering to untie his sneakers before shoving his feet inside. Without asking he grabbed one of her hair ties and threw his hair up into a bun.

“Keep your eyes low”She said.

“Why?”He asked with a scoff.

“They’re glowing”

* * *

Sneaking out of the dorm was the easy part, everyone was in class. The hard part was making it back to his own dorm without running into staff members. Like Mal said he kept his eyes trained low and walked with a quickness every so often hiding behind a tree when he saw someone a little too smartly dressed. His stomach was growling but he decided it would be safest to sneak in at lunch when he could blend in with the crowd, and besides, he’d gone longer without food. 

“Hey!”He heard a voice say, oh fuck, he knew that voice. He tried to walk faster but he’s been proven time and time again that he can’t outrun this kid. He turned around and plastered on a smile at the boy before him. Carlos looking fluffy as ever holding two coffees with a slight pout on his face.

“H-hey pup”He said and cursed himself for stuttering.

“Why aren’t you in class?”Carlos asked tilting his head, “I got you coffee”

Jay felt his heart soar and immediately reached out for it. Once it was in his grasp he immediately got to work giving that straw the time of its life.

“Jeez calm down! You’re going to suck all the sugar out of it”Carlos scolded gently with a giggle, “you gotta stir it baby”

“But I like the sugar”He said, “It’s crunchy, see?”

He proceeded to chew on the sugar crystals much to Carlos’ annoyance.

“You’re disgusting”He said, “Now how come you weren’t in class, huh? You don’t even have your backpack on you, also can you look at me when I-”

He lifted a hand to tilt Jays chin up and gasped softly biting his lip.

“I um...I guess that’s why”He said weakly.

“Yeah”Jay said, “That’s why”

“Well um do you know why they’re uh…?”He asked.

“I do”Jay said with a shrug,

“Well do you want to talk about it?”He asked.

“No”Jay said with a snort, “that’ll only make things worse C”

“Baby…”He said shifting his weight from one leg to the other, “You can’t go on like this, it’s not good for you”

“I’m perfectly fine C, don’t you worry,”Jay said cupping the smaller boys cheek, “I just want you to worry about school and what you’re wearing to the summer solstice”

“You wanna go?”He asked with a timid smile, “Like together?”

“Yes like together”Jay said trailing his hand down and linking their pinkies together, “I want everyone to know I’ve got the most beautiful boy ever”

“No you”He said and scrunched up his nose. Jay scoffed and nudged him with his hip.

“You’re such a nerd”Jay said.

“Yeah but last time I checked i’m your nerd so deal with it”he sassed.

“That’s right”Jay said with a crinkly smile, “That sweater looks cute on you, where did you get it?”

“Oh Finn’s brother Isak let me borrow it!”He chirped with a grin.

“Who the fuck is Finn?”   


* * *

“Carlos Oscar DeVil you’re going to get in so much trouble”Jay grinned as he led the boy up the stairs into his dorm room. Carlos huffed and shoved Jays shoulders muttering something about hating his middle name. The two may be far from the isle but it’s hard to break a habit of rule breaking, especially when it’s this fun. He locked the door behind him and before he could speak Carlos was bustling around the room tidying things up. Jay couldn’t decide whether to say something smart or laugh, so he did both.

“I guess old habits die hard?”He snickered watching the boy reorganize Lonnie’s stack of books by color.

“I can’t help it”Carlos mumbled, “It’s so messy in here, how do you live like this?”   


“Comfortably”He snorted, “Come sit pup”

“ _ Jay _ ”Carlos whined bouncing in place, “don’t you dare start using the voice, I gotta fix this!”

“Mmm but I thought you liked the voice?”He asked in a teasing tone.

“Well yeah but-”

“So, how about you come sit?”He said in a tone that meant he wasn’t really asking.

“Jayden…”Carlos warned.

“My lap is waiting”He said patting his thighs for good measure.

“Ugh fine”Carlos huffed, “But I won’t enjoy it”

“Oh you’ll enjoy it plenty”he waved off. Instead of being a nice boyfriend and sitting normally Carlos decided to throw his entire body weight at Jay and knock him flat on the bed.

“Oh you little fucker”He wheezed, Carlos cozied up against his chest and smiled.

“Much better”

“Have I ever told you how much I hate you?”He asked.

“Oh quit it, you love me”Carlos scoffed.

“Yeah, I do”He said.

“Wait  _ what _ ?”Carlos asked with wide eyes, “like are you serious or are you fucking with me right now?”

“Oh i’m absolutely fucking with you”He said with a straight face.

“Oh…”Carlos said with a frown, “Well that’s actually really rude-”

He was cut off by Jay planting a gentle kiss on his lips, they’ve done it a million times but it still manages to take his breath away.

“Of course I do stupid”He scoffed.

"Okay"Carlos breathed.

And they left it at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment if you enjoyed, your comments make writing all the more rewarding.


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